Commentary: O.C. faith community to eat cake in support of LGBTQ rights

When the Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council held its September luncheon at the Baha’i church in Costa Mesa, we invited the mayors of each of our three cities. It was an opportunity to connect with one another and the religious community to ask questions of our elected officials.

It caught most of the room off-guard when one of the invited officials, unsolicited, announced his belief that businesses should be allowed to discriminate based on their religious beliefs.

Apparently, the official thought he knew his audience, assuming that since we were a gathering of religious leaders and lay people, we would share the same beliefs.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

He noted the case that the Supreme Court will hear this week: “Masterpiece Cake Shop v. the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.” In case you don’t recall, that’s the case where the baker refused to make a “gay wedding cake” for the same-gender couple who was getting married.

Perhaps to this official’s surprise, the majority of the room believed it is wrong to discriminate against someone based on your religious beliefs.

Most of us were disappointed that an elected official could not see the importance of separation of church and state and that religious freedom means freedom from religious domination and religious persecution.

So, in an act of solidarity, Christians will be gathering Sunday in downtown Santa Ana to eat cake. Baker Jeff McCullum Van Hoosear of St. Mark Presbyterian Church is donating a “Gay Wedding Cake” so we can feast together in support of the LGBT community here in Orange County and stand against discrimination throughout our nation. The event will be part of a National Weekend of Prayer for LGBTQ Justice.

Join us for a celebration of solidarity, friendship, love and cake. Participants in Let Justice Eat Cake include leaders from Progressive Christians Uniting and our member churches: Church of the Foothills (Santa Ana), Irvine United Congregational Church, St. Mark Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach), Fairview Community Church (Costa Mesa), University United Methodist Church (Irvine), First Christian Church (Fullerton).

We will be gathering at 3 p.m. in the square at 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana.

The Rev. Dr. SARAH HALVERSON-CANO serves Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa.