Just Cookies No Politics

I’ve heard a lot of discrimination cases, but this one takes the cake! Last week in Indianapolis, a couple came under fire for turning away a special bakery order for “National Coming Out Day” at Indiana University (IU). The Just Cookies owners, David and Lily Stockton, politely explained to the caller that they didn’t feel comfortable making rainbow-colored treats for a group that endorses homosexuality. As a father, David said he wanted to set the right example for his two daughters and stand by his moral beliefs. Of course, as his wife explained, anyone is welcome to come to the store and buy cookies from their shelves. “I don’t ask people about their sexual orientation,” she told the Indianapolis Star after the caller, Heather Brown, started a campaign to get Just Cookies evicted from the City Market.

Brown, who, perhaps not so ironically, works as the “social justice coordinator” at IU, complained that it was “intolerant” to turn down her request. With the help of some ultra-liberal groups, she triggered an investigation by Mayor Greg Ballard’s Office of Equal Opportunity. “This could be grounds for taking away their stand in the market,” said the president of the City Market Board. “…[W]e can’t tolerate discrimination like that,” he insisted. Since when did it become discrimination to have personal convictions? As business owners, it’s completely within the Stocktons’ right not to be forced by a customer to make a product that violates their moral and/or religious convictions. If the customers don’t like it, they can take their dollars elsewhere. Just because David and Lily own a store doesn’t mean they’re slaves to the agenda of anyone who visits. The Stocktons are well within their legal bounds to decline an order that would make them a public part of a very perverse celebration.

One of the few locals who spoke out against the family said that taking this kind of stand is not “smart business.” On the contrary, business has never been better! According to our friends at the Indiana Family Institute, local support has been so overwhelming that the Stocktons sold out of cookies! At least two conservative legal groups have already offered to defend the freedom of Just Cookies in court. That should teach liberals to pursue these half-baked ideas about “tolerance.” Now it’s up to the Mayor to quit wilting under pressure and call off the investigation. Contact Mayor Greg Ballard’s office (317-327-3601) and ask him to stop bullying businesses with conviction. If he can’t stand the heat, tell him to get out of the Stocktons’ kitchen!

Tony Perkins heads the Family Research Council. This article is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.