If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
I lost my Oregon list when my computer crashed last year, so please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
Posted on 06/06/2015 7:01:12 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Aaron and Melissa Klein, former owners of an Oregon bakery that refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple and as a result was fined over $130,000, declared in an exclusive interview with the Daily Signal that the case against them needs to be removed from the bureaucratic governmental agency that oversees discrimination complaints because of possible new evidence of bias.
"I think the case should be pulled out of [the Bureau of Labor and Industries court and put into a civil court because I cannot get due process here," Aaron Klein told The Daily Signal.
Last week the Daily Signal, a news site related to the Heritage Foundation, published evidence of collusion by the Bureau of Labor and Industries and the pro-LGBT group Basic Rights Oregon. Based on this new evidence, which consists largely of emails, texts, and phone conversations between the two parties, prompting lawyers for the Kleins to file another motion to reopen the case. A similar motion to reopen the case was denied in March before the Daily Signal's publication of new evidence.
Brad Avakian is the judge at the bureau who is responsible for issuing a final ruling concerning the $135,000 fine. Sweet Cakes by Melissa has since shut its doors because of backlash and boycotts by those angered over their actions. The Kleins' children were even the targets of death threats.
"I had a gut feeling that he was in cahoots with [Basic Rights Oregon] from the get go," Aaron Klein declared in the interview. "We already knew that he had a premeditated idea about what was going on."
Avakian made a Facebook post about the Kleins' guilt before the agency's ruling and imposing of a fine.
"You can't have an office that has a judge, jury and executioner," Aaron Klein declared. "Judges should be unbiased and they should be elected by the people without the power to legislate, investigate and do everything else."
The Kleins have consistently said serving a gay wedding ceremony is against their Christian beliefs. Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer, the lesbian couple, testified at a hearing in March that they suffered emotional distress because they were "humiliated" and "ashamed" that they were not accepted as a soon-to-be married couple.
The Daily Signal's continued reporting about the collusion exacted a response by Basic Rights Oregon on Tuesday:
"The Heritage Foundation has fabricated a conspiracy theory between Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and Basic Rights Oregon, ignoring the truth and the facts.
"Here's reality: The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) did not consult Basic Rights Oregon on the Sweet Cakes by Melissa discrimination case," declared pro-LGBT rights group Basic Rights Oregon. "To the extent Basic Rights Oregon has been in contact with BOLI staff about this case, it was to stay informed about timeline and process only."
Basic Rights Oregon did not mention in their press release their donations to Avakian's bid to be commissioner of the BOLI nor Avakian's purchases of tickets costing hundreds of dollars to attend Basic Rights Oregon's annual fundraising galas and gay pride parades. They did however mention their endorsement of Avakian through their PAC.
Melissa Klein told the Daily Signal she plans to "fight this all the way we can."
"We're definitely not going to back down," said Melissa Klein. "We take this very seriously … for not just ourselves but for other business owners who this could happen to."
If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
I lost my Oregon list when my computer crashed last year, so please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
Go fund me likely will not help you them, we need a conservative counterpart ( if there is one I am not aware of it)
Could be just a coincidence, but I wonder of Brad Avakian, judge, is related to Bob Avakian, founder of the Revolutionary Communist Party?
Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer, the lesbian couple, testified at a hearing in March that they suffered emotional distress because they were “humiliated” and “ashamed” that they were not accepted as a soon-to-be married couple.
what special snowflakes! Every act must be accepted or one is damaged forever!!!
These gays are really weak.
It would probably surprise even me to actually know how much our Government has been infiltrated with socialism.
But then the American people have been electing socialists for many years so I guess it would be dumb to be surprised.
I wonder how the founding fathers would have dealt with this garbage?
What LGBT looks like to me is a Large Green Bacon and Tomato Sandwich.....one of which should NEVER be served....
Why? Because these obviously biased people say so? I'm thinking that sworn testimony is called for here, with the penalty of perjury for people who collude and lie about it and get caught. Why not? If it didn't happen, what do they have to worry about?
They actually claimed something like 17 different maladies/bad effects in their lawsuits, including - I swear I am not making this up - that they were “mentally raped” by the bakery owners’ actions.
I’m of the opinion this whole case was likely a shakedown from minute one. It reads like a page out of the Sharpton playbook.
hate to say this but Christian businessowners need to more clever in how they reject these trolls since they are seeking to destroy them.
I’m glad Christians are starting to fight the power.
It is akin to Muslims seeing contradictory ideas as equivalent to an actual assault.
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