An appeals court in Oregon upheld a fine against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.
Back in 2013, Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the now-closed Sweet Cakes by Melissa outside of Portland, were asked to make a wedding cake for the lesbian couple Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer. The couple refused, citing their religious beliefs.
Rather than simply go to another bakery to get their cake, the lesbian couple filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. They found the owners in violation of a 10-year-old state law that prohibits discrimination of LGBT couples in “employment, housing and accommodations,” In 2015, they were ordered to pay the Bowman-Cryers “emotional distress” damages.
The Kleins appealed the decision in March 2017, arguing that since it takes artistry to bake a cake, the rule violated their rights as artists to free speech, violated their rights to religious freedom and due process.
Finally, five years after the case began, the Oregon Court of Appeals sided with the state and upheld the penalty, NBC reports.
The Bowman-Cryers applauded the ruling, saying it was a victory for equality.
“It does not matter how you were born or who you love. All of us are equal under the law and should be treated equally. Oregon will not allow a ‘Straight Couples Only’ sign to be hung in bakeries or other stores,” the couple stated.
Nancy Marcus, an attorney with LGBTQ legal and civil rights group Lambda Legal, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, said the ruling “is both critically important and completely unsurprising.”
“The court’s decision is unsurprising because it is consistent with decisions by courts across the country that have similarly refused to create a new constitutional right of businesses to exempt themselves from civil rights laws and harm same-sex couples through discriminatory denials of service,” Marcus told NBC News via email.
The First Liberty Institute, a conservative group representing the Kleins, said in a statement they were disappointed.
“Today, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided that Aaron and Melissa Klein are not entitled to the Constitution’s promises of religious liberty and free speech,” Kelly Shackelford, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “In a diverse and pluralistic society, people of good will should be able to peacefully coexist with different beliefs. We are disappointed that the court ruled against the Kleins.”
The decision in Oregon comes just weeks after the Supreme Court heard similar arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
A decision in that case is expected by June. The Department of Justice filed a brief in support of the Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, who refused to custom-make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
As in the Oregon case, gay couple Charile Craig and David Mullins decided to initiate a costly legal battle to destroy a private business owner rather than simply finding a baker who had no religious objection to making a cake for them.
What do you think? How will the Supreme Court rule? Sound off below!
from The Federalist Papers http://bitly.com/2CjyWa1
via IFTTT Court Makes Decision in Case of Bakers Who Refused Gay Wedding Cake http://bitly.com/2CjyWa1