Community Flocks to Bakery Threatened with Boycott Over Its Pride Flag
The New Jersey bakery received overwhelming support after being threatened with a boycott for displaying a Pride flag.
A Cranford, New Jersey bakery was overwhelmed with support last week after being threatened with a boycott for displaying a rainbow Pride flag at the store’s entrance.
In April, the Sweet n’ Fancy Emporium was sent an anonymous letter, from “Citizens of Cranford,” complaining about the bakery’s Pride flag.
“I noticed the rainbow flag hanging in your window,” the letter reads. “I have notified all of my girlfriends who in turn have decided to boycott your store.
“It is not that we despise the flag…it is just we do not want to be associated with crazy left wingers who hate America. We have decided to take our business elsewhere and have blasted your organization all over social media.”
“I was saddened to receive such a hateful note in the mail today,” Amanda Girardi, the store’s owner, wrote on Facebook. “I love Cranford and all of the love and support the community has shown my business (my little labor of love.) My doors are open to anyone who wants me to bake for them always. I can’t control how others behave. I only have control over how I behave. Sweet n’ Fancy welcomes everyone.”
The Sweet n’ Fancy Emporium planned a special bake sale on Sunday, April 28, to raise funds for The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.
With very little prior advertising, the event drew hundreds of people. Photos and video from the event showed people lined up down the block to buy the bakery’s signature crumb cakes, soft pretzels, and rainbow-colored delicacies like cupcakes, cake pops, and candy.
So many people attended that the bakery ran out of sweets after 70 minutes.
According to FM radio station WKXW, the event raised over $4,000 for the Trevor Project through the sale of baked goods, specialty “Love Wins” T-shirts, and private donations.
“The amount of love and respect at this event. Unexplainable!” Girardi wrote in a post on the bakery’s Facebook page later that night. “I will leave you tonight with hearts filled with gratitude, so proud of our supporters for your patience and most of all, love won here.”
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