Indiana Pizza Joint that Says It Will Refuse Service to Gay Weddings Forced to Close, Website Gets Hacked

April 1, 2015

The owners of one Indiana pizza joint are paying the price for their support of the state’s new controversial Religious Freedom Retaliation Act signed by Governor Mike Pence last week that permits companies to refuse service for religious reasons.

Memories Pizza, owned by Kevin O’Connor and his daughter Crystal, was one of the first businesses to say they would refuse service to gays.

“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide them pizzas for a wedding, we would have to say no.”

The O’Connor family claims their Christian beliefs prevent them from catering to gay customers, but they don’t think it’s discrimination.

“I do not think it is targeting gays, personally. I don’t think it’s discrimination […] It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief,” Crystal O’Connor explains. Kevin O’Connor adds:

“That’s a lifestyle that you choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head because they choose that lifestyle?”

The second they made that statement, the internet lashed back with social media fury. The pizza joint began to receive threatening phone calls and social media comments, TMZ reports, and the store was forced to temporarily shut down.

Memories Pizza’s website was also hacked, according to Mashable. The homepage now has a rainbow-colored background, says, “Call us to cater your gay wedding!” and “Home of the dick pizza!,” and also sports a picture of a penis-shaped pepperoni pizza with sausage topping testicles.

A quote at the bottom alongside Crystal O’Connor’s picture now says, “I love the gays.”

Kevin O’Connor said that while he doesn’t mind gay people coming to his restaurant to eat, he doesn’t believe in gay marriage so he can’t have people who attend such a ceremony eating his pizzas, reports Business Insider.

What do you think of their support of the controversial law? Has the internet served social justice?

Feature Image via Business Insider

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