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Posted on 07/13/2022 10:51:51 AM PDT by aimhigh
An Oregon Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year found the state’s initial award of $135,000 in damages against Sweet Cakes By Melissa showed signs of bias. The state of Oregon has drastically reduced financial penalties it assigned a Gresham baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple nearly a decade ago.
In compliance with a state appeals court ruling earlier this year, State Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle announced Tuesday that the Bureau of Labor and Industries is ordering Aaron Klein to pay $30,000 damages in the case, down from a $135,000 penalty handed out in 2015. The move is the latest twist in a matter that began in 2013 when Klein, the co-owner of the bakery Sweet Cakes By Melissa, denied service to Rachel Bowman-Cryer and her mother when the pair attempted to purchase a cake for Bowman-Cryer’s upcoming wedding.
According to records, Klein said his Christian faith did not allow him to support same-sex weddings. When Bowman-Cryer’s mother returned to the business to discuss the matter further, Klein cited a Bible verse: “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Bowman-Cryer’s mother only relayed to her daughter that Klein had called her and her fiancée abominations, leaving out the Bible verse.
The incident spurred widespread controversy in Oregon, and led then-Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian to order Klein to pay $135,000 for illegally discriminating against the Bowman-Cryers and causing them anguish. A portion of the hefty penalty relied on a determination Klein had caused Bowman-Cryer and her fiancée immense pain by calling them “abominations,” regardless of the fact Klein had been citing a Bible verse.
The damages were scrapped in 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who’d also been fined for refusing service to a same-sex couple on religious grounds. Justices in that ruling found Colorado’s penalty had shown bias against the baker’s religion. They ordered the Oregon Court of Appeals to take a fresh look at the Sweet Cakes case.
On that second look, and applying the new standards set by the Supreme Court, Oregon appellate judges found reason to believe Avakian’s steep penalty demonstrated bias. While the court found the state had a right to penalize Klein for illegal discrimination, it also concluded that BOLI had “at least subtly” strayed from its legal requirement to be neutral in regard to his religion. As a result, the Oregon Court of Appeals directed the bureau, now led by Hoyle, to take another look at the penalty.
“Per the direction of the Court of Appeals, we have recalibrated the damages awarded to complainants to fall squarely within the range of such awards in previous BOLI public accommodations cases, given the record established in this case,” Hoyle said in a statement Tuesday. “This award is based on the violation of law, the record in the proceeding, and is consistent with BOLI case history.”
Hoyle’s order removes any consideration of Klein’s recitation of the Bible verse from the penalty, only awarding damages based on his decision to refuse service. It awards Rachel Bowman-Cryer $20,000 and her wife, Laurel Bowman-Cryer, $10,000 “for emotional, mental, and physical suffering resulting from the denial of service.”
Aaron Klein and his wife Melissa have left Oregon. Business records indicate they have reopened their business in Montana.
It’s interesting the hypocrisy of the left who demands to bake the cake because the venue is a public service that must be provided to everyone or they will sue to put you out of business. These same leftists will demand that corporations openly discriminate against an individual who wants to say, purchase a gun with a credit card.
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
My tolerance of homosexuality ended with “Bake the damn cake.”
It’s unfortunate for us, but I’ve seen two or three OTHER “decisions” that should never have been in the first place, “reduced” because it was “sort’a kind’a not right to begin with”
Calling refusal to bake a wedding cake “refusing to serve” is a lie. They refused to extend the services they provide to everyone to include a special cake in celebration of something they felt uncomfortable about. If they had refused to let the gay couple into their shop or to sell them a bagel that would be wring. But to sue them for this is not being a champion civil rights, its being a champion of persecuting others for not celebrating your life style.
They should refuse to pay. A state CANNOT set legal requirements for someone to practice their religion. Separation of Church & State, anyone? (That's what they say all the time. Turnabout's fair play.)
Which is what got them into trouble in the first place. Sexual orientation is a protected class in Oregon.
I have a gut feeling they are trying to lower the fine, so the case will go away. Maybe they are afraid if it goes back to the Supreme Court, their chances might not be as good.
Not one cent for slavery to sodomy.
They will lose at scotus that is indeed why they dropped the fine.
Isn’t it strange Facebook, Twitter and all the other “social” media sites can ban people who post conservative views but small business owners can’t ban orders because of their religious beliefs.
Civil Punishment by Bureaucratic & Judicial Abuse.
If there’s not a law against such action by the state, there should be, with criminal and financial penalties.
Wow, this case has lasted longer than most gay marriages.
In the future, a sign behind the counter saying "15% of all cake orders will be donated to Get Out of Being Gay Organization."
It should be cut to $0. In fact, the couple should pay the bakers for the intentional emotional distress and tortuous interference in their business they deliberately committed.
You can refuse to take a special commission for any or no reason. You are no longer a seller but an employee.
This is something that people are failing to understand. You can not be forced to take a job. That would be slavery.
For those who want to object to the slavery label "because they are paying you" please understand that slavery is not unpaid labor, it is forced labor.
If you can not accept or decline a job it is slavery no matter if you get paid or you do not get paid.
So it’s gone from a travesty of justice, to a travesty of justice.
Most heterosexual marriages as well.
Once again you are spreading disinformation. Or as we use to say, lying though your teeth.
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