Indiana pizza shop that won't cater gay weddings to close

Mary Bowerman | USA TODAY Network

Update: According to its Yelp page, Memories Pizza is now closed.

A family-owned Indiana pizza shop that was forced to close its doors after the owners said they would not cater a gay wedding because of their religious beliefs, is now raking in thousands of dollars from supporters.

The owners of Memories Pizza in Walkteron, Ind., became one of the first companies to say they could use the newly passed "religious freedom" law to refuse service to same-sex couples.

Crystal O'Connor, the co-owner of Memories Pizza, told WBND-TV she would serve a gay or non-Christian couple at the restaurant, but would not cater a same-sex couples wedding.

The comments resulted in a flood of threats against the business on Yelp and Twitter.

O'Connor told The Blaze that since the interview, the restaurant owners are "in hiding basically, staying in the house."

A GoFundMe account with the purpose of relieving, "the financial loss endured by the proprietors' stand for faith," was set up for Memories Pizza Wednesday. The account has received over $53,000 donations.

"I don't know if we will re-open, or if we can, if it's safe to re-open," O'Connor told The Blaze.

Indiana's O'Conner said she agreed with Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that prohibits any laws from "substantially burden" a person's ability to follow their religious beliefs.

"If a gay couple was to come in, like say, they wanted us to provide them pizzas for a wedding, we would have to say 'no,'" O'Connor told the station.

The comments have sparked debate on Twitter with some defending the owners' right to exercise their religious freedom.

And others pointing out the discriminatory nature of the remarks.



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