"Satan Cakes" May Become a Thing

Devil's food, naturally

Now this is just plain hilarious. As usual, The Satanic Temple has come up with a plan to deal with the whole "same-sex wedding cake" issue. If the Supreme Court allows bakers to discriminate against same-sex couples, they will go ahead and start ordering "Satan cakes" from bakeries that refuse to make cakes for same-sex weddings. And since religion is established as a protected class, the bakers will be legally required to make them.

TST spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, explains: “Our organization has received a lot of concerned messages from people who are upset by the prospect of an environment in which the LGBTQ community are openly and legally treated as second class citizens. The laws of the United States require that no one may discriminate by way of refusal of service against an evangelical theocrat for their religious beliefs, but the evangelical theocrat may discriminate against LGBTQ people because of who they are. Because religion is a protected class, a baker may refuse service to LGBTQ people, but they may not refuse service based upon someone’s religion. If they aren’t willing to make a cake for same-sex unions, let’s have them make a cake to honor Satan instead.”

The Satanic Temple proclaims that if the right to discriminate against the LGBTQ community is codified into law by the Supreme Court, aggrieved parties who face discrimination should contact them. “If you can’t get a cake for your same-sex union,” Greaves said, “we’ll host a party in your honor at The Satanic Temple headquarters in Salem and order a cake that praises Satan from your offending discriminatory ‘religious liberty’ enthusiast.”

The whole wedding cake argument is super-stupid anyway. If we're talking about a same-sex marriage that will presumably be conducted by a religious denomination with different beliefs than those held by the bakers, the same religious freedom argument that works for "Satan cakes" should apply. And if we're only talking about a civil ceremony, there's no reason for religion to enter into it at all. Legal marriage and religious marriage are two entirely separate things - or at least they should be. That's because in America, we don't have a state religion.

As funny as the idea of "Satan cakes" may be, the most obvious solution is to outlaw discrimination against same-sex weddings. I'm hoping that when they take up the case, the Supreme Court sees it that way, too.