Walmart refused to make ‘gay’ prom cake for viral couple
Walmart has apologised – after refusing to make a cake with the word ‘gay’ on for two best friends attending prom.
The pair later appeared on Ellen – with Lescenski explaining that he invited his friend to prom after seeing him complain on Twitter that he couldn’t find a date.
However, when Martinez’s aunt Jennifer Sandoval attempted to buy a cake from Walmart with a message on for the pair, she was shocked to be told the bakery couldn’t write the word ‘gay’.
She had planned to put a message on the cake saying ‘You’re gay, he’s straight, you’re going to prom, you couldn’t have had a better date’ – but was told she couldn’t use the message.
Ms Sandoval told Fox: “One word, ‘gay’, which is the meaning of happy… isn’t going to harm putting that on a cake.”
However, when she challenged the decision with the supervisor, she was told the message was inappropriate.
She said: “[The] Supervisor takes my phone, looks at it, and was like stuck for a minute, and she was like, ‘OK, I’m sorry, we can’t use this’.
“And then I said, ‘I’m going to ask you what I asked her because you’re the supervisor. Why can’t I use this? I don’t understand. It’s one word. It’s gay’.
“It wasn’t hurtful. It was to make my nephew happy, to see a smile on his face. I love that smile, to see that smile, that’s all I wanted, and I’m disappointed. I really am.”
She instead bought a cake with the words “You matter, prom kings”.
Walmart – which was absent from a number of top employers who called on the US Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriage – has apologised for the incident, and reiterated that it is not policy to refuse to write ‘gay’.
