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Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused service to a lesbian couple Avakian lost his bid to Oregon Secretary of State to a Republican (CNN) — Could it be the year of the underdog? The presidential election wasn't the only contest to see an upset. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who came to national attention for heftily fining a local bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, lost. Avakian, a champion of the LGBTQ community, was running for Secretary of State. As labor commissioner since 2008, Avakian often made news for his tough calls against businesses discriminating...

You’ve seen the story multiple times already: a Christian baker declines to cater a gay wedding, and gets sued in the process. The most publicized came out of Oregon, where the bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa chose not to bake a wedding for a same-sex wedding. Rachel Bowman-Cryer and her mother visited Sweet Cakes planning to order a wedding cake. Bowman-Cryer had purchased a cake previously from the Kleins for her mother’s sixth wedding. Bowman-Cryer wanted to have the same cake she had purchased for her mother. That’s when Aaron Klein asked what the name of the bride and groom...

In 2013 - a small family bakery in Northwestern Oregon refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding. The owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa had no idea that their decision to follow the teachings of their Christian faith would lead to a multi-year legal battle. It’s a battle still being waged. Aaron and Melissa Klein were eventually punished by the state of Oregon -- fined $135 thousand dollars for refusing to participate in the lesbian wedding event. It was the price they had to pay for refusing to violate their conscience. They also made the painful decision...

During Thursday’s GOP presidential debate, liberal Sally Kohn tweeted, “If bakeries are so worried about their religious freedom, they can become churches. #GOPDebate”

...Who Declined to Make a Gay Wedding Cake and Were Fined $135,000 A Raw Story report published on Friday led with the headline, “Oregon bakers weren’t fined over cake — they were punished for sharing lesbian couple’s home address.” But is that claim true true? The short answer: Absolutely not. As has been widely reported, Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa, an Oregon bakery, were fined $135,000 in “compensatory damages for emotional, mental and physical suffering,” after they declined to make a wedding cake for Rachel Cryer-Bowman and Laurel Bowman-Cryer. Nowhere in the official order does it...

Defiant Oregon bakers fined $135,000 for their 2013 refusal to make a cake for a lesbian wedding reportedly vow to "fight back" against the state labor commissioner's stiff penalty – and are calling on "Christians … to take a stand." "For years, we’ve heard same-sex marriage will not affect anybody," Aaron Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, told The Blaze. "I’m here firsthand to tell everyone in America that it has already impacted people. Christians, get ready to take a stand. Get ready for civil disobedience." Oregon's Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian on Thursday issued a final ruling in the...

The question mark’s in the headline because they haven’t commented yet on where the page went or why, but you can guess what happened if you read Jazz’s post yesterday. A GoFundMe page for a different Christian-owned business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon, was yanked down by GFM because there are discrimination charges pending against the owner and it’s GFM’s policy not to raise money “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” Politely refusing to cater a gay wedding is, evidently, now a “heinous crime.” But that raised a question: If charity...

Christian Bakers Face Government Wrath For Refusing To Make Cake For Gay Wedding By Todd Starnes February 03, 2015 Aaron and Melissa Klein refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, and now they must pay for their crime. An Oregon administrative law judge ruled on Jan. 29 that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa did, in fact, discriminate in 2013 when they declined to provide a wedding cake for a lesbian couple because it would have violated their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage. The judge’s ruling paves the way for a March 10 hearing at which...