Sweet Cakes Final Order: Oregon Bakery Must Pay $135,000 for Refusing to Make Homosexual Cake

By George Rede. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian on Thursday ordered the owners of a former Gresham bakery to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for refusing to make them a wedding cake.

Avakian’s ruling upheld a preliminary finding earlier this year that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa had discriminated against the women on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Bakery owners Melissa and Aaron Klein cited their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage in denying service. The case ignited a long-running skirmish in the nation’s culture wars, pitting civil rights advocates against religious freedom proponents who argued business owners should have the right to refuse services for gay and lesbian weddings.

Avakian’s final order makes clear that serving potential customers equally trumps the Kleins’ religious beliefs. Under Oregon law, businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said in a news release.

“This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage,” Avakian wrote. “It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal. (Read more from “Sweet Cakes Final Order: Gresham Bakery Must Pay $135,000 for Refusing to Make Homosexual Cake” HERE)

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Baker to Government: You’re Messing ‘With the Wrong Christian, Because I Fight Back’

By Michael Dorstewitz. Fast on the heels of Thursday’s administrative ruling ordering the owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple for declining to bake them a wedding cake on the grounds of religious conviction, the bakers announced they’re not going to take it lying down.

They’re going to fight.

What makes the administrative decision especially egregious is that Oregon did not recognize same-sex marriages, which were illegal in the state at the time the bakers refused to bake and decorate the cake.

“He wants to silence anyone who opposes his point of view,” Aaron Klein, who co-owns the bakery with his wife Melissa, told TheBlaze.

He was referring to Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who pushed the case against the couple. (Read more from this story HERE)

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