Not true, for several reasons:
1) it is a high-pressure, perfection-requiring item. As proof of that, bakers usually charge more for a wedding cake than a more ordinary party cake.
2) It is a custom item. Spouses-to-be usually have specfic ideas that they want to have expressed. We still have First Amendment freedom of expression in this country. If an artist does not believe he or she can do the best work because of the sentiment expressed, such as a Ku Klux Klan cake, an NRA cake, an alcohol-infused cake, a porno cake, a DNC victory cake or a gay wedding cake, they should have the right to decline if they don't agree with the sentiment involved.
3) A wedding cake usually requires the chef to enter the premises and set up the cake. Setting up a cake that would disturb the baker's sincerely held religious beliefs would require having his/her truck with its logo parked outside, implying endorsement, and would also coerce expose of baker to many others who may also want a gay wedding cake, also implying endorsement.
In short, it's not a pre-made, pre-packaged standard item like a sheet cake from the grocery on which you can write "Happy Birthday" with your own tube of grocery store icing. It is a custom work of artisanship in which the baker has to invest greater skill, time and delivery effort than standard. Artisans such as bakers, photographers, florists and even tailors and dressmakers should not have to use their specialized skills except by mutual consent with the prospective customer.
If we don't require kosher and halal butchers to butcher pork in order to stay in business, there is not reason to compel anyone else to violate their religious beliefs about marriage.
If we don’t require kosher and halal butchers to butcher pork in order to stay in business, there is not reason to compel anyone else to violate their religious beliefs about marriage.
Great point.