Oregon State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has ordered Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 in damages to gay couple.
.@KirstenPowers warned about #TheSilencing. Here's a real-life example of it in Oregon involving same-sex marriage: http://t.co/cYU8OJavCG
— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) July 3, 2015
The gay couple claimed they were mentally raped.
The Kleins believe they are being unfairly punished.
The couple had to close their bakery and now operate their business out of their home.
Now they are being forced to pay $135,000 in damages.
The Daily Signal reported:
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.”
