LUFKIN, Texas (KXAN) — When a Texas bakery unveiled a batch of heart-shaped, rainbow-iced cookies in honor of Pride Month, it didn’t expect to cook up controversy.
The owners of Confections, an independent bakery in Lufkin, said they received significant backlash after posting a photo of the cookies. They lost social media followers and, more troubling, canceled business.
“Today has been hard. Really hard,” reads a Facebook post from Thursday. “… My heart is heavy. Honestly, I never thought a post that literally said ‘more love, less hate’ would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods.”
Owners and sisters Dawn and Miranda, identified only by their first names, said one customer canceled a five-dozen cookie order that had already been baked, decorated and was set to be picked up the following day.
But when news of the incident spread, Confections was met with another surprise: overwhelming support. The next day, the small bakery had a line extending around the block. The unexpected outpouring was so great, they were forced to close early “to rebake and regroup.”
“We’ve sold out. All this attention on our small business is very humbling… in the 11 years we’ve been open, we’ve never seen anything quite like this,” Dawn wrote via Facebook.
She said they ran out of items to sell near the end of the day on Saturday, so customers donated to the sisters’ choice of charity, local animal rescues.
“We’ve had a lot of people wanting to donate money to our shop in the name of kindness, and we appreciate the gesture so much! But. We can’t take y’all’s money like that, but if you would like to donate to one of our local shelters or rescues, that would be so amazing!” Confections said in a Facebook post. “Y’all are incredible human beings.”
The sisters said they appreciate the support and are doing their best to keep up. They’re also still baking the rainbow cookie. One of their Facebook posts signs off: “More love. Less hate. Always.”