FDRQ...
Posted on 07/09/2015 7:46:17 AM PDT by xzins
Two Christian bakers who refused to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding have been ordered to pay $135,000 in damages by July 13 or else the state of Oregon could place a lien on their home.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, were punished by the state's Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) for unlawfully discriminating against a same-sex couple.
The Kleins, who are devout evangelical Christians, argued that baking the cake would be a violation of their religious beliefs.
The BOLI ruling ordered the mom-and-pop bakers to pay $135,000 to the lesbian couple. They were also slapped with a gag order that prohibits them from speaking publicly about their refusal to participate in or bake wedding cakes for same-sex unions.
And now they have until July 13 to pay the damages or else face additional fines and a possible lien on their home.
"This is intimidation and bullying—that's exactly what it is," Klein told me in a telephone interview." They are trying to strong-arm me into handing over $135,000 to the two girls and if I win on appeal—they will never pay me back."
A BOLI spokesman confirmed they sent a standard payment letter to the Kleins' attorney.
"The letter informs them that if we do not hear from them, we may turn the matter over to the Department of Revenue, which can place a lien on real property," the spokesman told me.
BOLI said they would also be willing to accept either a full payment or payment arrangements.
"Of course, they can also ask for a stay of enforcement while they pursue their appeal," the spokesman said.
But there's a catch. The person who will determine whether or not to stay the order—is BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian—a vocal supporter of the LGBTQIA movement.
"The judge, jury and executioner are all in one place," said Anna Harmon, the Kleins' attorney. "He is intent on using his office to root out thought and speech with which he personally disagrees."
Harmon, who is affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom, said they were expecting the payment letter that came from BOLI.
"This letter, while it's the normal procedure, continues to show the state is not backing down," she told me. "They don't think they did anything wrong here."
Avakian's strong arm tactics against the Christian bakers have outraged Christians across the nation.
"This guy would make Mussolini proud," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research council. "This is a wannabe dictator."
It certainly appears that Avakian and the state of Oregon have declared war on the Klein family.
"Not only do they want to drive them out of business, but they want to make them homeless," Perkins told me.
The Kleins say they are filing a stay and do plan on appealing the state's decision.
"Brad and his cohorts at BOLI have overstepped their constitutional rights in requiring me to cease and desist from my constitutional freedom," Mr. Klein said. "I will fight them with every last breath I have."
Mrs. Klein said she would not be intimidated by Avakian's hard line tactics.
"We are so going to fight this, oh my gosh," she said. "It's making us stronger and emboldening us to stand up to this. Aaron and I are fighting for every American out there—for their freedom. We are not backing down at all."
And while the viciousness of the attacks against the Kleins might be unsettling—Harmon said it really should serve as a source of inspiration.
"What a time to be an American," she said. "It's a hard time—our freedoms are challenged—but what a time to be able to stand and have courage and say, 'I have a moment in time where I can be a voice for that.'"
And the Kleins are not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
"He definitely messed with the wrong Christians," Mrs. Klein told me.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.
And I feel your assertion is short sighted.
Criminalizing Christianity is the tactic NOW but is only a part of, and the first step in, a much larger totalitarian strategy.
sigh.
Well GoFundMe shut it down.....soup nazis !!
Liberals are soooooo tolerant of other people..................
Franklin Graham started accepting donations for their legal defense after their GoFundMe was shut down, but it’s under the larger umbrella of his ministry which as I understood it helped shield the Klein’s from having the court go after all the funds the Klein’s raised personally. Maybe someone else remembers this better, but I donated through Samaritan’s Purse with a note for the funds to be earmarked.
sooner [hopefully] or later, the queers and their promoters will run across someone who understands that $135k is equivelent to attempted murder and theyll reply in self-defense and there will be a couple less queers and an evil enabler in ‘the world’...
In this case the time for civil disobedience may soon pass. Think Lexington Green.
I dont think so. For a fire to start the tender has to be dry. It isnt dry enough yet. The sheeple have not been directly impacted yet. They still have enough petty freedom.
They should countersue for malicious persecution.
Franklin Graham is helping raise funds through Samaritan’s Purse under “persecuted Christians USA.” http://www.samaritanspurse.org/donation-items/persecuted-christians-usa/
An attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defending Freedom has taken up the case. http://www.alliancedefendingfreedom.org/
Plus normal, everyday people have raised at least $150,000 for them to fight this battle.
They have some heavy hitters behind them. This will be a huge test case for religious liberty.
I like this analogy so I’ll use it again: conservatives are in a situation akin to a very bad marriage. In this marriage over time the wife has shot the dog, burned dowm the house, sold the children’s kidneys on craigslist, and drained the bank account to buy crack. And now we come home to find her banging the neighbors in the front yard.
Our response to this sort of thing is usually some variation on the theme of staying the course. Because “this time it’ll be different.” The more “aggressive” of our conservative compatriots might advocate Stern Marital Counseling.
The cake case is just another symptom. At what point is the marital relationship itself examined?
You don't understand the things those poor lesbians had to suffer through....
List of Complaints Alleged Against Aaron and Melissa Klein
It's lucky they're still alive.
I’ve heard that an equal quantity of Ex-Lax can replace the sugar and no one could tell the difference...
;-)
...until later...
I like this analogy so I’ll use it again: conservatives are in a situation akin to a very bad marriage. In this marriage over time the wife has shot the dog, burned dowm the house, sold the children’s kidneys on craigslist, and drained the bank account to buy crack. And now we come home to find her banging the neighbors in the front yard.
Our response to this sort of thing is usually some variation on the theme of staying the course. Because “this time it’ll be different.” The more “aggressive” of our conservative compatriots might advocate Stern Marital Counseling.
The cake case is just another symptom. At what point is the marital relationship itself examined?
This needed to be re-posted.
I’d love to know the address of the offended so I can send them a cake that says “Jesus Loves You.” Something along the lines of blessing those that curse you and heaping burning coals. An outpouring of love like that en masse would either make them apoplectic or lead them to salvation. Of course there is the scripture about pearls before swine, but it might be worth a shot if a few hundred of us tried gifting them with cakes with a love message from scripture. (Ducking)
FDRQ...
>>By the way,....My husband is spending the week windsurfing at Hood River. All the money he will spend this week will be **not** be in Hood River. Nope! Instead, he is staying in Stevenson, Washington, and sailing from that side of the river.
Washington is not exactly a bastion of Christian Conservatism either. This is why the Conservative Revival movement is doomed from the start. We won’t even cancel our adventure vacations for the cause because...”we’re special and, gosh durn it, we earned it”.
One would need to be a lawyer in that realm. But what should be argued is that consistent with the ruling, a black or Muslim baker should be compelled to bake a special cake for a KKK celebration, just as if there were sign makers.
For unlike other cases, this was a request for a custom work, not like refusing to sell any standard item, or to rent a function hall.
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