DICKSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are new details in a debate pitting religious freedom against discrimination, surrounding the question of whether a mid-state baker should have to make a cake for a gay couple's wedding.
Tennessee wedding cake shop refuses to serve gay couple, citing "spiritual conviction"
Brandi Ray from Dickson County first posted a text conversation on the Hip Dickson facebook page last weekend. In it, the owner of Susie's Sweets, baker Susie Dennison tells Brandi: "I truly wish you the best but after realizing that your union will be of the same sex, I cannot with my spiritual conviction and beliefs, do your cake!"
Since then, Brandi says, someone else has offered to bake a wedding cake for her.
And Brandi says she understands why the baker said no.
"I understand that beliefs are important to hold on to, and I applaud her for sticking to those," Brandi said.
The U.S. Supreme Court stopped short of issuing a broad ruling on a similar case out of Colorado last year, leaving the possibility of a case like Brandi's to head up to the court again.
But Brandi says she has no plans of filing a lawsuit.
