Texas bakery 'overwhelmed' with business after backlash over rainbow Pride cookies

A Texas bakery that said it lost business and Facebook followers after it posted a photo of rainbow-frosted, heart-shaped cookies in celebration of Pride Month has amassed many new fans from around the world.

On June 2, Confections, a bakery in Lufkin, Texas, shared a photo of the cookies on Facebook with a message:

"More LOVE. Less hate. Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here."

The next day, the bakery shared a more somber post about the backlash it said it received as a result of posting support for the LGBTQ+ community.

"Today has been hard. Really hard. We lost a significant amount of followers because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted. We received a very hateful message on our business page canceling a large order (5dz) of summer themed cookies for tomorrow morning (that we just finished decorating) because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted. My heart is heavy," read a post on the Confections Facebook page.

The message added that the small business was already "struggling to stay afloat" and, as a result of the cancellation, would now have a surplus of cookies for sale.

"If you love our cookies we will have an over abundance of them tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be better," the post continued.

And it was. As word spread about the backlash, customers lined up around the block the next day to purchase treats from Confections.

Confections co-owner Dawn Cooley shared a photo of the line on Facebook and said the bakery sold out as a result of people coming out to show their support.

"We’ve sold out. All this attention on our small business is very humbling. Makes me nervous! Those who know me (Dawn) know how shy I am. In the 11 years we’ve been open we’ve never seen anything quite like this," Cooley wrote.

She added that her sister and co-owner Miranda Dolder and their baker Felicia were feeling incredibly "humbled and grateful and moved by this outpouring of love."

"The last several people in our shop put Money on their credit card for us to donate because there was nothing left to purchase," she said.

"Giving it all to local animal rescues," Dolder added as an edit to the post. "We told the customers they could donate to that cause. They chose to do so."

On Sunday, the bakery posted another update, writing that, after Father's Day, it plans on creating a donation schedule to send cookies to local nursing homes and charities.

The attention has also earned Confections new fans from across the country. The bakery's Facebook page now has nearly 50,000 likes.

"I am so glad to see all the in town and out of town support you are receiving. Sorry that people can be so negative. Stand up for being kind!" one fan wrote.

"When things slow down a bit-let us know if shipping is possible. I’d like to support you," added another person. "If shipping isn’t possible, I’ll buy some by phone/email and you can donate my cookies to a local LGBTQ org or children’s charity."