Posted on 07/03/2015 6:20:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The last we had heard from Aaron and Melissa Klein, the former owners of Sweet Cakes in Oregon that lost their bakery business after refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, the site GoFundMe had shut down their crowdfunding operation. That was in April, but the drama was not over for the Kleins, who faced a stiff fine for their allegedly discriminatory conduct. Aaron and Melissa defended themselves in media interviews in an attempt to prevent the state of Oregon from further penalizing them, but Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian went even further than anyone might have imagined.
Not only did Avakian levy a $135,000 judgment against the Kleins for “emotional damages” to the couple denied a wedding cake, he slapped a gag order on them that forbids the Kleins from explaining to potential customers of Sweet Cakes why they won’t bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. Of course, since they’re no longer in business, it no longer matters — and even if they were, the $135,000 fine would make sure they weren’t. The Daily Signal poses this as a broader gag order than it is, however:
Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian finalized a preliminary ruling today ordering Aaron and Melissa Klein, the bakers who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they denied service.
“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.”
In the ruling, Avakian placed an effective gag order on the Kleins, ordering them to “cease and desist” from speaking publicly about not wanting to bake cakes for same-sex weddings based on their Christian beliefs.
“This effectively strips us of all our First Amendment rights,” the Kleins, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, which has since closed, wrote on their Facebook page. “According to the state of Oregon we neither have freedom of religion or freedom of speech.”
Daily Signal writer Kelsey Harkness posted the portion of the order in which the gag clause appears:
Here's the paragraph where commissioner @BradAvakian ordered cease & desist against Christian #sweetcakes owners: pic.twitter.com/wJ2z4UaSpe
— Kelsey Harkness (@kelseyjharkness) July 3, 2015
This is not, as some on Twitter and the Daily Signal argue, a gag order against discussing the case. as Jeff B at AoSHQDD rightly points out. It relates to communication in their business about their policies, which would still be a violation of their First Amendment speech rights, but no longer applies. The Kleins lost their business almost two years ago due to the negative publicity of the complaint. This clause is moot now, which makes one wonder why Avakian bothered to include it at all. It also misrepresents the case at hand. The issue for Sweet Cakes, as it was in other cases, was not one of a refusal to serve on the basis of sexual orientation but the refusal to participate in an event that violated their religious tenets. The gag order clause makes it sound as though the Kleins refused service to people solely on the basis of sexual orientation, which was not the case.
The fine in this case is far more egregious. An average wedding cake will run around a thousand dollars, more or less — so for what kind of damages is Avakian compensating? Did the Kleins refuse to do 135 same-sex wedding ceremonies? Not exactly. As this video from April reminds us, the claim from the one couple contained a ridiculously long list of damages from this one refusal to do business with the couple, none of them substantiated by any medical or expert testimony:
Brad Avakian- soon to be a speaker at the next DNC convention. He’ll get honored by GLAAD and obama.
I will never set foot in Oregon. Forget about it. Anyone still living there and being a conservative needs to get out now.
RE: I will never set foot in Oregon.
Well, if you’re old and value your life, you wouldn’t want to get sick in Oregon. They have America’s first assisted suicide law in place.
Just think: NO ONE is fighting back.
Speak for yourself:
“God help me, I hate them, too. They’re making me hate them.”
I forget if it was C.S. Lewis or G.K Chesterton who said (I am paraphrasing) that one of the greatest sins that we commit is to tempt people to hate us because it is a temptation that so few can resist and ends up killing both parties.
The left has been intent upon turning conservatives into monster for many years because it the only way they can win elections, at least until the conservatives become the monsters they’ve been portrayed as and fight back
If neither one of them said that then feel free to give me credit :>}
Absolutely insane what Avakian did.
The bakers should move out of Oregon.
If they —did— move, would the gag order still apply, since it was done by a local official?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3307552/posts?page=3#3
Thanks for the link kozanne!
To whom shall I send this link, so that they may donate?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3307552/posts?page=14#14
AlbionWilde, thanks for the info!
LucyT
Ping to this info!
The cake bakers should get outta Oregon; I doubt Avakian’s reach is out pf state.
I’ve been all over the Internet today. Got Breitbart, Pat Dollard, Gateway Pundit.
You got any other sites you can post at, please do so.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
See freepmail.
Seen and responded to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continue_to_Give
here is a link to the wikipedia information on the funding site for the Kleins, if you are interested.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3307552/posts?page=35#35
All y’all, ping to this post; it has a link where one can donate for the Klein’s defense.
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.
Ping.
https://www.continuetogive.com/4811392/videos
Direct link to Klein’s defense donation site.
Thanks.
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