Posted on 04/24/2015 1:34:05 PM PDT by mykroar
An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000.
“[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa located in Gresham, Ore., say the fine is enough to potentially bankrupt their family of seven.
The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron denied Rachel Cryer a wedding cake after learning there would be two brides in her wedding.
Aaron and his wife Melissa are both Christians and believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
Rachel and her partner Laurel Bowman-Cryer, who are now married, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries under the state’s public accommodation law, which bans discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries pursued charges against the Kleins on behalf of the same-sex couple.
In January 2015, an investigation by the bureau found the Kleins guilty of violating the state’s public accommodation law by denying Rachel and Laurel full and equal access to their bakery, which the state considers a place of public accommodation.
The Civil Rights Division of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is responsible for enforcing the state’s public accommodation law, and the judge who issued today’s proposed order works for the bureau.
In order to reach $135,000, Rachel and Laurel submitted a long list of alleged physical, emotional and mental damages they claim to have experienced as a result of the Kleins’ unlawful conduct.
One of the women, whose name was redacted to protect her privacy, listed 88 symptoms as grounds for compensation. The other, whose name was also redacted, listed 90.
Examples of symptoms include “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”
Harmon, the Kleins’ lawyer, told The Daily Signal that during the hearing “there was no expert testimony.”
The witnesses at the hearing were the two women who were requesting a cake, one of their mothers, one of their brothers and another family member. There was no doctor, there was no psychologist, no expert testimony at all.
In collecting the fine, Harmon said the state isn’t just pursuing the Kleins’ business assets, but their personal livelihood as well.
“An important thing to understand about the damages the state is claiming in this case is that the [fine] isn’t going to come from liquidating business assets,” she said.
Their business is gone. They don’t have business assets so when we talk about [the fine], it’s personal. It means that’s money they would have used to feed their children that they can’t use anymore.
In September 2013, after facing public backlash, the Kleins had to close their bakery.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries did not respond to The Daily Signal’s multiple requests for comment.
Paul Thompson, the attorney representing the lesbians, previously said he has “a policy of not discussing cases that are the subject of open litigation.”
Aaron, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal on Sunday, said the state of Oregon is attempting to “obliterate” his family.
“The state is now saying that we can award damages above and beyond what you have already suffered … and they have no qualms about doing this,” he said. “It is really showing the state is taking a stance on absolutely obliterating somebody that takes a different stance than the state has.”
The recommended fine will now go to to state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who can either accept it or adjust the amount in issuing a final order.
I can’t find a site hosting donations to them other than a link to a church that doesn’t have any mention on its website.
The bakery is not a monopoly and equity cannot / should not be made against the 1st Amendment “Freedom of Religion”! The Bakery has a fungible product, a cake, that can be made in any bakery! Unlike an apartment or residence, it is not a unique combination of location, school zone and neighborhood. The ‘Accommodations Law’ here is flawed, unique service is nonsensical in this case and the punishment is vindictive based upon a new standard of personal offense tailored to the personal feelings of a thought-crime offense.
Go to their computers....bet they were planning vacations in Europe etc..BEFORE....they went to the cake store.
Disgusting is putting it mildly. Do the citizens of Oregon think it’s OK to take everything from this family with children? It’s obvious those lesbian liars are nothing but a couple of .........
Lol
if one of the partners dies before the wedding does the judgement still hold?
I would settle out of court for $1.35.
Get used to communism. It is sweeping America State by State. Business are no longer really owned by those that created it but they are wards of the State and nearly completely controlled by regulation, law suites, and taxes.
Get thee to a law court and jury trial.
In a rational country that would have already happened.
L
Prove it according to the Rules of Evidence. Just saying that's your sexual orientation is insufficient. Prove it.
Disgusting travesty of justice. Hateful lesbians claiming ‘hurt feelings’ have attacked and driven these good folks to lose not only their livelihood but their personal assets as well. This must stop. Enough is Enough.
Just say no.
The email for this disgusting POS is poublicopinion@boli.state.or.us
I emailed him. I encourage others to do so also. We can no longer remain silent.
should be publicopinion@boli.state.or.us
The backlash against the pro-homosexual agenda has been alive and well for some time now. Many of us refusing to purchase products from companies that adopted the agenda early on. Proctor and Gamble for one, announced this week they are cutting up to 6,000 office jobs worldwide. There are far too many options that don’t include buying into the P&G adopted-assisted agenda.
The peasants must be crushed!
“Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries..”
We got a name, and now we need an address.
That would be an amusing exhibit
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.