By Ryan Foley<\/p>\n\n\n\n The owners of a Tennessee pizzeria are standing by their beliefs after facing backlash for refusing to cater a same-sex wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement<\/a> posted on Facebook Monday, the Tennessee-based Pizzeria Cortile acknowledged that, \u201cRecently, we made the difficult decision not to cater a wedding due to our personal beliefs,\u201d adding, \u201cThis belief comes from a place of personal conviction, one we know is not shared by everyone, and it is one we hold without judgment towards others.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis decision was not intended to harm or hurt anyone, and we are sorry for the pain this has caused for people who have been a part of our community,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cWe recognize and hear the feedback from everyone who has reached out today. We hope with time we can find an opportunity to extend grace and listen to one another, and remember that while we may not always agree, we can still treat each other with love and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The owners of Pizzeria Cortile concluded by expressing gratitude for \u201cthe relationships we have built with you over the years,\u201d adding, \u201cWe hope you will give us the chance to continue showing love to you when you come through our doors.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Facebook post did not elaborate on the nature of the refusal to cater the wedding nor the \u201cfeedback\u201d the establishment had received, The Chattanooga Holler shared an X post<\/a> Monday featuring a screenshot of an inquiry sent to Pizzeria Cortile on Instagram about whether or not the business had \u201crefused to cater a same-sex wedding.\u201d The restaurant responded by declaring \u201cthank you for reaching out for clarification, we do not cater same-sex weddings.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chattanooga Holler cited its post about the Instagram conversation as an attempt at \u201cletting folks not waste their time (or money).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After word spread about the pizzeria\u2019s position on catering same-sex weddings, Elizabeth Haley of The Seed Theatre took to Facebook <\/a>Monday to encourage a boycott of the business and advised LGBT activists to reallocate the money they would spend on pizza, drinks and appetizers at the restaurant by making a donation to \u201clocal organizations who are supporting queer people\u201d such as hers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Haley also urged people to share screenshots of their donations to pro-LGBT organizations on social media and \u201ctag Pizzeria Cortile so they know that your money is going directly to support queer folks instead of their bigotry.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n After the pizzeria confirmed its stance about not catering same-sex weddings, a business based in nearby Chattanooga announced it was cutting ties with the restaurant. In a statement<\/a> posted on Facebook Tuesday, the bookstore The Book & Cover said it was \u201cending its partnership with Pizzeria Cortile\u201d because its \u201cstance is not in keeping with our values as individuals and as a business.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the bookstore, \u201cIt is vitally important to us that it is clear we treasure and respect the queer members of our community and celebrate the rights and love that they carry. We are committed to showing each person who visits The Book & Cover respect and care, and we believe affirming the love and humanity of folks is essential to ensuring that care is felt.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pizzeria Cortile is not the first pizzeria to find itself embroiled in the ongoing debate about who should have the upper hand in the conflict between religious liberty and LGBT activists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015 \u2014 as the U.S. Supreme Court was slated to hear arguments in a case surrounding whether or not there was a constitutional right to same-sex marriage and a Religious Freedom Restoration Act allowing businesses to opt out of providing services to same-sex couples if doing so conflicted with their deeply held religious beliefs \u2014 Memories Pizza<\/a> in Indiana received national attention after a reporter asked the co-owner if the restaurant would cater a gay wedding, and she replied they could not because of their religious beliefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the pizzeria invited its fair share of backlash, it also enjoyed a great deal of support from the American public. Within a week of the controversy making national headlines, the establishment raised more than $800,000<\/a> from those coming to its defense for standing by its convictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with business owners who refuse to provide services to same-sex couples due to their deeply held religious beliefs. In 2018, the court ruled<\/a> that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and demonstrated hostility toward the religious beliefs of baker Jack Phillips by penalizing him for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding in 2012 when gay marriage wasn’t even legal in Colorado nor nationwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, in the 2023 case 303 Creative v. Elenis<\/em> <\/a>ruling<\/a>, the justices determined that the state of Colorado could not force a Christian website designer to create websites celebrating same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wouldn’t fault them, as why subject yourself or your staff to whatever happens at such an event. We’ve all seen the debauched Pride event reporting as well as trans story time. Never mentioned, this is a great way to get new customers and lose ones that are often more of a problem, ruining the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9827,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826\/revisions\/9827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"iStock\/User44916d0b_828\"\/](\"https:\/\/assets.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/15\/49\/154933_w_700_467.jpg\")