Oregon bakers might have to pay $150,000 to same-sex couple

The owners of an Oregon bakery may have to fork out $150,000 to a lesbian couple simply for refusing to bake them a custom wedding cake. Last Thursday, an administrative law judge ruled the bakery owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, had violated an Oregon statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Administrative Judge Alan McCullough claimed the anti-discrimination statute did not infringe on the Kleins’ rights of free speech or free exercise of religion. A hearing set for March 10 will determine whether the state will force the Kleins to pay up to $150,000 to the lesbian couple for “emotional, mental, and physical suffering.”

Anna Harmon, an attorney for the Kleins, disputed the judge’s decision and said it sets the wrong precedent for religious liberty in Oregon. The ruling, she told me, “is a clear statement by the state of Oregon that they’re not going to tolerate or they’re not going to make room for religious liberty with business owners.” Her clients will have an opportunity to appeal after the March hearing, she said.

The case arose in 2013 after Rachel Cryer went to the Kleins’ bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, and asked for a wedding cake. When Aaron Klein asked for the names of the bride and groom, Cryer said there would be two brides—her partner and herself.

Aaron Klein replied that his wife and he did not make wedding cakes for same-sex couples because of their religious convictions. The Kleins believe marriage, according to the Bible, is only between a man and a woman. Later, while speaking with Cryer’s mother, Aaron Klein quoted Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

After the incident, Cryer and her then-partner, Laurel Bowman, filed a civil rights complaint with state officials. Oregon did not recognize same-sex marriage in 2013, but that has changed: A federal judge last May struck down the state’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Bowman and Cryer held a commitment ceremony in 2013 and married in 2014. They now use the surname Bowman-Cryer.

The Kleins shut down their storefront later in 2013 due to the media attention from the case and what Aaron Klein described as a backlash from gay activists. At one point, someone even vandalized their bakery truck. Melissa Klein still bakes cakes from her home for friends.

Harmon, the attorney, said the case’s key element is that Melissa Klein was sculpting customized wedding cakes intended to celebrate specific ceremonies. “We’re not just talking about a bakery where you’re stirring together flour and water and sugar and handing somebody a cupcake,” she said. “She’s creating art. She’s designing things for an event.”

No Americans should have to choose between closing their business and following their religious convictions, Harmon said.

The Kleins’ case is one of several involving Christian business owners who have declined to participate in same-sex weddings or ceremonies, including a florist, art gallery owners, and the owners of a 100-acre farm.

“We fully trust in our heavenly father,” said a statement from Sweet Cakes by Melissa, posted today on the bakery’s Facebook page. “He is able to deliver us from this, but even if He doesn't we are not going to compromise on God’s truth in order to appease man.”