$800,000 raised for Indiana pizza shop

Jill Disis | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — The national media spotlight was trained on Indiana's Capitol all week as lawmakers dealt with the backlash from the "religious freedom" law.

But much of that attention has now moved 133 miles north to a small Indiana town of about 2,200 where one particular pizza parlor appears to have become a symbol of the state's newest culture war. And its owners may soon become the state's newest millionaires.

A comment by the co-owner of Memories Pizza in Walkerton that she would refuse to cater a wedding for a gay or lesbian couple because of her religious beliefs sparked a national uproar.

Ind. pizza parlor wouldn't cater gay weddings Owners of a local pizza parlor in Walkerton, Indiana say they support the state's new Religious Freedom Law and refuses to cater any gay weddings. (April 1)

LGBT advocates denounced the pizza place. The owners appeared on Glenn Beck's nationally syndicated radio program. The case was discussed on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and featured on the websites for the Washington Post and New York Times.

In a most remarkable show of support, an Internet crowdfunding page for the pizza shop raised more than $800,000 — an amount that showed no sign of slowing down Friday evening.

The pizzeria-centered pandemonium began Tuesday, when co-owner Crystal O'Connor spoke to a television station in South Bend about the state's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

"If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no," she told a reporter, who had been canvassing business owners for reactions to the law. "We're not discriminating against anyone. That's just our belief, and anyone has the right to believe in anything."

The comments appeared to be an answer to a hypothetical question. O'Connor's father, Kevin O'Connor, later told Beck that the pizza place had never catered a wedding for anyone — an unlikely scenario to begin with — and would not deny regular service to someone based on sexual orientation.

But his daughter's comments were enough to send the Internet into a furor.

The Walkerton Police Department asked for civility after a social media commenter threatened to burn down the restaurant. The South Bend Tribune reported that the alleged commenter, who is a coach at an Elkhart County high school, was suspended in light of the investigation. On Friday, the department said it was still investigating the threat.

Hundreds of comments, mostly negative, flooded the business's Yelp and Facebook pages. In an interview on Blaze TV with conservative host Dana Loesch, Crystal O'Connor said the business needed to close its doors.

In response, Blaze TV set up a crowdfunding page on gofundme.com. Within two days, the page raised $800,000.

It inspired a counter-crowdfunding effort by supporters of the Indiana Youth Group, which supports gay and lesbian youths.

By Friday evening, that page had raised $4,555.

"It does not surprise me at all that the counter gofundme page has just raised a pittance in comparison," said Mary Byrne, the executive director of the Indiana Youth Group. She said the group did not start the page but was in contact with the creators.

Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday signed into law a RFRA revision that legal experts say eliminated a provision in the original law that could have overridden local anti-discrimination ordinances that included protections based on sexual orientation. Indianapolis and 10 other communities across the state have such ordinances.

"That was changed," Byrne said. "And now I think that these people (RFRA supporters) feel like they are getting the rocks thrown at them, and they're banding together and showing their support for the pizza place."

Crystal and Kevin O'Connor, the owners of the pizza place, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Contributing: Madeline Buckley of The Star