Almost a lifetime ago in media years, Melissa Klein and her husband refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple. They are devout Christians and as such were pilloried, reported, and fined by the State of Oregon for civil rights violations. Not their own, obviously.
Related: What if Christian Bakers Operated Out of Trucks Driven By Muslims?
Despite there being plenty of other bakeries to choose from in the area (including Muslim bakeries – wink, wink) the fines amounted to 135,000.00 dollars. Sweet Cakes by Melissa is a small business, so the State of Oregon and the Gaystapo put the Christain Baker out of business.
I’m confident that was the objective.
The Klein’s took their case to court. Oregon being Oregon, did them no favors. The ruling and fines stood. But now they have to take a second look.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 17 sent back to a lower court a ruling against the owners of an Oregon bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple due to Christian beliefs. … The justices sent the case back to an Oregon court so it can reconsider its ruling against the bakery owners in light of the Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision in a strikingly similar case from Colorado.
The 2018 ruling is the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. But it may be too narrow to afford Aaron and Melissa the relief they seek at the state level, which might mean another trip to the US Supreme Court. And that might be in order.
Telling a private business owner, they have to do something for you is compelled speech regardless of what the ‘doing’ is – more so when you have a protected religious objection and one that is being discriminated against.
… the State of Oregon targeted the religious speech of the Kleins: It forced Aaron and Melissa out of business by penalizing them $135,000 for refusing to create a government-approved message and then issued a gag order, preventing them from even talking about their actual beliefs.
Seems like a case for the US Supreme Court to me but they want to see something happen further down the food chain before they consider it.
We wish the Kleins the best of luck but do not hold out much hope for a state level remedy. Not in Oregon. But I’d love to be wrong.
Image: Gospel Herald
