Donors have committed at least $361,500 to a Christian couple facing persecution from the state of Oregon over their decision to follow their beliefs and not endorse a lesbian “marriage” ceremony, according to an online funding site being promoted by officials with the American Family Association.
The pro-family, pro-faith organization is reporting that the couple, Aaron and Melissa Klein “are pushing back against the punishment imposed on them for simply living out their Christian faith.”
They operated “Sweet Cakes by Melissa,” but when they declined to bake a cake for a homosexual “wedding” in 2013, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries accepted a complaint against them.
Then Labor Commission Brad Avakian finalized a fine of $135,000 against the Kleins, “ordering them to pay two lesbians for ’emotional damage,'” AFA said.
Then Avakian took a further step, ordering the Kleins to “cease and desist” from making public statements about their decision not to violate their religious beliefs by baking such cakes.
On their Facebook page, they simply said the decision “effectively strips us of all our First Amendment rights. … According to the state of Oregon, we have neither freedom of religion nor freedom of speech.”
Now YOU can help Sweet Cakes owners Aaron and Melissa Klein!
AFA reported, “The Kleins are requesting a stay on the fine in an effort to delay the order and will begin the appeals process soon. But until then, Aaron and Melissa will not be silenced and will continue to speak out against the anti-Christian intolerance imposed by Commissioner Brad Avakian.”
AFA then included a link to a funding site, called Continuetogive, where a goal of $150,000 already was at 241 percent Wednesday afternoon.
The site explains, “Let’s help the Kleins through this hard time as they fight for religious freedom; which they are not just fighting for themselves but for all of us as our freedoms are threatened.”
The message continues, “They have been struggling financially ever since they were forced to close the doors of their bakery in 2013 as their income was basically cut in half. If they are forced to pay the damages to the lesbian couple they will be in much worse shape then they are now.”
The site explained, “Every American should be free to live and work according to their faith without the government punishment them for doing so.”
Hundreds of dollars were pouring in, including a donation from an anonymous contributor who said, “While I would not have done the same thing, you have the right to do it.”
WND reported earlier on Avakian’s move against the couple. He affirmed a finding that had come earlier from administrative judge Alan McCullough, who made the decision to punish the Kleins over their decision to follow their faith.
The Kleins said their Christian beliefs against same-sex “marriage” had prevented them from complying with the cake request. The Kleins were forced to close their storefront in Gresham, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, in 2013 shortly after the lesbian couple filed a civil rights complaint against them. At that time, same-sex “marriage” wasn’t legal in Oregon.
Avakian claimed the case was “not about a wedding cake or a marriage.”
“It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal.”
The same claim was made against a Colorado baker who now is fighting similar state penalties. However, he explained the sexual orientation of the customer had nothing to do with the decision; it was the message that the cake carried that violated his own constitutional rights.
See the big list of “same-sex marriage” entrapment and Christian coercion
Oregon prosecutors sought $75,000 for each woman – $150,000 total – during a hearing on damages in March. Under the commissioner’s ruling, Rachel Bowman-Cryer was to collect $75,000 and her “wife,” Laurel Bowman-Cryer, $60,000. The couple testified in March to the emotional stress they attributed to their experience with Sweet Cakes, including the glare of media attention that they got after they filed the case.
The lesbians complained, “This has been a terrible ordeal for our entire family. We never imagined finding ourselves caught up in a fight for social justice. We endured daily, hateful attacks on social media, received death threats and feared for our family’s safety, yet our goal remained steadfast. We were determined to ensure that this kind of blatant discrimination never happened to another couple, another family, another Oregonian.”
Aaron Klein also testified that his family had suffered because of the case. Reporters came to his home, his company car was vandalized and broken into twice, and photographers and florists severed ties with the business.
As WND reported, a fundraiser was set up for the Kleins, but after the account had reached more than $109,000, the GoFundMe site shut it down.
That was when a replacement fundraising site was set up to help the Kleins.
