Threats and violent protests forced Sweet Cakes by Melissa, a small bakery located in Gresham, Oregon, to close its doors this weekend.
In February, a lesbian couple asked Melissa and Aaron Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes, to bake a wedding cake for their commitment ceremony. Though the Kleins serve all customers on a regular basis, on this occasion, the request would have required them to actively support a same-sex commitment ceremony. Because facilitating such a ceremony would violate their beliefs, they declined to participate. Soon afterwards, Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries notified the bakery that it was the subject of a formal investigation.
“The goal is to rehabilitate,” said the bureau’s commissioner, Brad Avakian. “For those who do violate the law, we want them to learn from that experience and have a good, successful business in Oregon.”
How would government authorities “rehabilitate” the bakery owners? An Oregon judge could assess civil penalties. In a very similar situation, after New Mexico–based Elane Photography declined to participate in same-sex commitment ceremony in 2006, the New Mexico Human Rights Commission ordered Elane Photography to pay $6,637.94 in attorney’s fees to the lesbian couple who filed a complaint.
Sweet Cakes in Oregon has also been the subject of vicious protests and boycotts by activists. For the past few months, the Kleins have received hundreds of phone calls and letters—some reportedly even including death threats to the family.
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