Zach Braff to cater gay weddings?
Actor responds to state’s Restoration of Religious Freedom Act, which made headlines for being ‘anti-gay’
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
Forty-year-old Zach Braff has been many things in his life: a successful actor, director and screenwriter. Now he wants to branch out into catering. Well, probably not, but if you live in Indiana and part of a gay couple determined to serve pizza at your wedding, then Braff will make it for you.
Braff let his disapproval of Indiana’s Restoration of Religious Freedom Act, which was passed by that state’s legislature and signed by Indiana governor Mike Pence in late March, be known in a Tweet he sent out on April 3 offering to make pizzas for gay weddings in the state. Braff’s friend and colleague actor Donald Faison, who appears with him in a photo in the Tweet (taken while the two were on a speedboat), was apparently a partner to the gesture.
The pair’s interest in making pizza for gay newlyweds is in reaction to an announcement by Memories Pizza, a family-owned business in Walkerton, Indiana, that it would refuse to cater same-sex weddings as a result of the law. The Restoration of Religious Freedom Act allows individuals and companies to assert that their exercise of religion has been, or is likely to be, substantially burdened as a defense in legal proceedings.
If you really and truly want pizza for your gay wedding in Indiana… We will make it for you. @donald_faison pic.twitter.com/y91qIkVoyt
— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) April 3, 2015
Braff and Faison, who look as they are giving Indiana the evil eye as they drive the speedboat, may have been out to sea and unaware that a week after the law was enacted, Pence signed a revision to it that prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The same day that the actors tweeted their catering offer, Pence Tweeted a conciliatory message: “Now that this is behind us, let’s move fwd together w/a renewed commitment to civility & respect that make IN great.”
Now that this is behind us, let’s move fwd together w/a renewed commitment to civility & respect that make IN great: http://t.co/AnqnchgM2n
— Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) April 2, 2015
Nonetheless, with public figures from all walks of life continuing to denounce the Indiana law and critics warning that the the protections given LGBT individuals by the revision are limited, it is doubtful the controversy will die down so quickly.
The amendment has been passed, but Braff and his buddy may want to get off their boat and into the kitchen to practice their pizza-making skills, just in case.
