A baker in Lakewood, Colorado, has decided to stop selling wedding cakes after losing a discrimination case brought against his business by a gay couple.
David Mullins and Charlie Craig were outraged when their request for a wedding cake was turned by the Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2012.
The couple had wanted the cake for their reception in Colorado following a wedding ceremony in Massachusetts.
Gay marriage is not legal in Colorado but businesses are not allowed to refuse service to a customer based on their sexual orientation.
In an angry update to his Facebook page after the incident, Mullins said he was "furious" at being told by Masterpiece that they did not serve gay weddings.
"I'm also not going to take this lying down," he said.
The Facebook post encouraged friends to get in touch with the bakery and make a statement in support of gay marriage, and the couple also protested with placards outside the front of the shop.
Mullins was delighted with the outcome of the two-year legal case.
"We've already been discriminated there," he said. "We've already been treated badly.
"The next time a gay couple wanders in there asking for a wedding cake, they won't have the experience we had.
"They will have a responsible experience and leave feeling respected."
Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop and a Christian, said he did not have a problem with making birthday cakes for gay customers.
He told CBS 4 Denver however that his position was that "I don't want to be forced to participate in a same-sex wedding".
Despite his objections, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that Phillips discriminated against the couple by refusing to sell them a cake.
The commission ordered the bakery to submit quarterly reports detailing the customers it refused to serve. The bakery was also told to retrain employees to serve all customers.
Phillips appealed against the commission but lost. He maintains that he has had so many orders for cupcakes and cookies to stay in business without making wedding cakes.
"We would close down the bakery before we would complicate our beliefs," he said.
