On The Brink Of Bankruptcy Because They Refused To Bake Cake For Lesbian Couple

A Oregon cou­ple face bank­rupt­cy for refus­ing to bake wed­ding cake for a Lesbian couple.

The ordeal start­ed in February 2013, when Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman asked the bak­ery own­ers to design a wed­ding cake for their same-sex com­mit­ment cer­e­mo­ny. At the time, Oregon defined mar­riage as the union between one man and one woman; vot­ers over­whelm­ing­ly approved the con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment in 2004. Aaron told The Daily Signal he thought he was “well with­in” his legal rights to decline the ser­vice, cit­ing his tra­di­tion­al beliefs that a mar­riage is between a man and a woman.

In January 2014, the Kleins were charged with vio­lat­ing Oregon’s Equality Act of 2007, a law that pro­tects the rights of the LGBT com­mu­ni­ty. It wasn’t until months lat­er, May 19, 2014, that a fed­er­al judge would declare Oregon’s amend­ment uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, paving the way for same-sex mar­riages. “Ironically, the state was in vio­la­tion of its own anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws,” said Aaron.

»> Farmers to Lesbian Couple: ‘We’re Not Hateful People’

Melissa and Aaron Klein are in the process of appeal­ing the deci­sion hand­ed down by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Following threats, vicious protests and boy­cotts, they have also been forced to close their bakery.

Melissa told The Daily Signal the charges have “def­i­nite­ly impact­ed us pret­ty hard financially.”

Read more here. Dailysignal​.com