Christie O'Connor of Memories Pizza
Facing death threats and pressure from the pro-"gay marriage" movement, a family-owned pizza business in Indiana was forced to close its doors.
Openly Christian owners Kevin and Christie O'Connor of Memories Pizza in Walkerton were asked by a reporter how they would respond to the state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act and said: We would serve gay individuals at the restaurant but due to religious beliefs, would decline to cater a same-sex wedding.
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The comments quickly went viral, and within hours, the shop owners said they received vicious threats – to include vows to harm and kill them – and so in fear, shut their doors, at least temporarily. In one widely reported threat, a Concord High School coach named Jess Dooley tweeted: "Who's going to Walkerton, IN to burn down #memoriespizza w me?"
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A Facebook page reportedly home to thousands of other threats against the pizza shop and its owners was "unavailable" on Thursday. But a Yelp page formed to protest the owners was still operational.
One commenter wrote: "Well I just can't go here or would ever because they engage in discriminatory practices based on I guess perception & 'religious belief.'"
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Other Yelp users, however, seemed much less outraged about the owners' comments.
"As much as I despise their announcement," wrote one, "I have to commend this place for being the first to figure out such a good way of pulling themselves out of a deficit that has obviously been going on for quite some time ... simply prey on the divisiveness of the populace."
Meanwhile, a Go Fund Me campaign has launched to support the pizza shop, with more than $55,000 raised in just a few hours, the news blog Legal Insurrection reported.
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