Wegmans Fairfax.JPG

The Wegmans grocery store in Fairfax, Virginia as seen in a 2010 file photo.

(Jacquelyn Martin | AP Photo)

Rochester, N.Y. — Wegmans has reversed a decision by a store in Virginia to refuse service to a group of former Muslims.

The group, the Ex-Muslims of North America, wanted to buy a cake celebrating its third anniversary from the Wegmans in Fairfax, Virginia, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. The cake was to include the group's name, logo and a congratulatory message.

But a Wegmans employee found the order questionable, the D&C said. A supervisor ultimately decided the cake was offensive and decided to refuse to bake it.

It was the group's name itself that bothered the employees, according to the D&C.

The group was not pleased.

"There are some, however, who take our very existence as an affront to their faith, and to them I have only this to say: We have every right to exist and be proud of who we are," Muhammad Syed, president of the group, said in an online posting, according to the D&C. "There is nothing about out name or logo that can be considered offensive to any reasonable individual."

The nonprofit group, made up of former followers of Islam, has about 500 members in the Fairfax area and about 24,000 total, according to the D&C.

Andrew Seidel, an attorney from the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, wrote a letter to Wegmans on the issue earlier this week. He described the cake matter as a potential civil rights violation, the D&C.

Wegmans corporate headquarters found out about incident and the store ultimately filled the cake order, according to the D&C.

"It was the wrong decision," Jo Natale, a company spokeswoman, said, according to the paper. "We should have made the cake. The decision to not fill this cake order was made at the store level by a well-intentioned employee, who was trying to act in the best interest of a diverse employee population."

Wegmans, based in Rochester, has 89 stores in six states.

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