‘You f**king queer p**fs’: Gay bakers sent hate-filled homophobic letter
Stock photo of a wedding cake
A gay couple who own a Scottish bakery received a homophobia-filled hate letter to their store demanding a refund simply due to their sexuality.
The shop owners, husband and husband pair Michael Burns and Stephen Whyteside, received the letter in the mail on Thursday morning.
Burns posted photos of the letter onto his Facebook and stated: “I’m not ashamed whatsoever about my sexuality.”
Staff at the Special Days Cakes in Uddingston were distraught, according to the Evening Times, as the letter demanded the store be “shut down”.
“Someone has gone out of their way to target us,” say gay bakers.
Showroom manager Whyteside told the paper: “Staff opened the letter and were very upset, especially when they had to tell us what it contained.
“Having to read this and then call us, it is terrible.
“I started laughing at first, I just thought it couldn’t be real. You don’t get letters like that.
“I’m just so shocked that someone would take the time to do anything like this.
“This is not something that ever happens. We’ve not had any disagreements with customers, they’re not the type to do that.
He added: “It seems someone has gone out of their way to target us with this hate crime.”
Couple now fear for their own safety even while at home.
Whyteside explained that gay bakers, who have been together for nearly two decades, do not keep their sexuality a secret.
But the letter, which states the writer will “be returning” to get their “money back”, has resulted in lost sleep.
“We were both up checking cameras,” he said. “We were worried if someone has gone to the effort to find out shop, why not our home?”
They reported the letter to the police which calls the couple “poofs”.
It also said that, if the writer had known they were gay, they “would have given your shop a wide berth”.
“I will be returning to get my money back as I don’t want any of your hands near my food.”
The writer then calls the couple “f**king queer pooft prick[s].”
Special Days Cakes, a bakery that offers bespoke wedding and celebration cakes to Glasgow locals. (Facebook)
Fortunately, after he posted the letter online, Whyteside has received widespread support from concerned friends, locals and even other bakers.
Whyteside said: “We have had messages of support on social media – other cake shops in London have even written to us.
“It’s great to be somewhere where people stand by you.
“Both of us are upbeat, but it’s still in the back of our mind. Why did they go to all of this effort?”
Furthermore, he went onto add that investigators will be taking the letter to comb for fingerprints and conduct DNA testing today.
A Bothwell and Uddingston police spokesperson told the paper said: “We can confirm that a complaint was received on Thursday, September 19, 2019, and enquiries are ongoing into this hate crime.”
Moreover, in a similar incident, a gay couple in Somerset, England, received a threatening letter days before their wedding day calling for them to have the celebrations “far, far away” from the village where one of the grooms grew up.
