Donations for an Indiana pizza shop forced to close amid threats by gay activists are now nearing $1 million.
One of the owners of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana told a local ABC reporter earlier this week that the shop would not cater a same-sex wedding if asked.
After a deluge of threats forced the pizza place to at least temporarily close down, the Dana Loesch radio show created a Go Fund Me page to support the business. By Friday afternoon, the fundraiser had crushed the initial goal of $20,000, with over 25,000 individuals contributing nearly $760,000 to the cause.
“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” Crystal O’Connor told a local ABC affiliate. Following the broadcast of the segment, which later went viral, Memories Pizza closed shop because of death threats, social media attention, and negative Yelp reviews.
In an interview with Loesch, O’Connor said her family is thinking about moving out of Indiana.
“We’re very hurt and confused and we stood up for what we believe,” said O’Connor. “The news just took it totally out of proportion. They lied about it. We said we would serve anyone that walked through that door—even gays, but we would not condone a wedding. We would not cater to that. It’s against our religious beliefs.”
Following the uproar over the state’s RFRA law, Republican representatives in the Indiana state legislature introduced an amendment, later signed by Governor Mike Pence, that would ban discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity among other things.
Additionally, the amendment prevents businesses from using the law as a legal defense for refusing to provide services. Religious organizations or religious nonprofits are, however, exempted from the amendment’s restrictions.