ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act got major backlash. Companies from Apple to Walmart spoke out against it, and the state's politicians scrambled to amend it. In the midst of all the drama, a small-town pizzeria came out fully in support of the original version of the law.
Memories Pizza got tremendous backlash and opted to close down, temporarily. A GoFundMe page was set up to support the owners and now it's nearly at $1 million.
A Royal Oak couple who got married the one day gay couples were allowed to in Michigan thought if the Memories Pizza owners could make such a vast amount of money, why not try and help April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse? They are the lesbian couple whose case is headed to the Supreme Court in three weeks. At issue: DeBoer and Rowse want to be able to marry so they can adopt each other's children.
"I basically thought, 'We're pizza lovers and we're for marriage equality.' Next thing I knew, there it was," said Lori Pimlott.
Pimlott got on GoFundMe and set up the "Pizza Lovers for Marriage Equality" page. Her partner, Jill Calvin, thought it was a great idea.
"It's trying to offset all the hate that gets advertised and published, hate that talks about how we're going to support a pizzeria that talks about hate and bigotry," Calvin told Local 4. "Instead, why don't we support people who are just trying to take care of their families and their children?"