Watch: Argument erupts on The View over bakery gay wedding cake refusal
A row has broken out on US talk show ‘The View’ about whether bakeries are justified in refusing to make gay wedding cakes.
In an argument reminiscent of a controversial episode of ‘Loose Women’, Candace Cameron Bure, who appeared on the View as a guest host, and Raven Symone, were at each other’s throats on the subject.
They were discussing the owners of Oregon bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa, who were found guilty of discrimination this year, after refusing to make a cake for lesbian wedding in 2013 – despite making divorce celebration cakes and cakes for ‘gay cure’ groups without issue.
They were told to pay $135,000 in damages to the couple last week.
Symone, who revealed to Oprah Winfrey last year that she is dating a woman but doesn’t identify as gay, compared the refusal to make a cake to racial discrimination.
She said, “To me, it’s the same exact thing they did back in the day saying black people couldn’t do certain things because ‘it’s my religious belief.'”
Bure responded: “No, I think you’re comparing apples to oranges here. I don’t think this is discrimination at all. This is about freedom of association … We do have the right to still choose who we associate with.”
“I refuse to associate myself with you right now,” Symone retorted.
Whoopi Goldberg later cut in to ask: “Were [the bakery’s owners] invited to the wedding?”
A debate broke out in the UK earlier this year after TV presenter Coleen Nolan appeared to compare ordering a cake with “support gay marriage” on it to one which reads “support ISIS”.
She was speaking on a segment relating to the ruling in Northern Ireland recently, which found that Ashers Bakery had unlawfully discriminated when it refused to make a ‘support gay marriage’ cake.
Watch the exchange below
