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Oregon Baker Faces State Investigation After Refusing to Make Same-Sex Couple’s Wedding Cake

Feb. 2, 2013 8:32pm Erica Ritz

Oregon Baker Faces State Investigation After Refusing to Make Cake for Same Sex Couples Wedding

(Photo: KATU)

An Oregon man may have broken the law and is facing a state investigation after refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding, KATU reports.

KGW has details on the story:

It started on Jan. 17 when a mother and daughter showed up at Sweet Cakes by Melissa looking for the perfect wedding cake.

“My first question is what’s the wedding date,” said owner Aaron Klein. “My next question is bride and groom’s name … the girl giggled a little bit and said it’s two brides.”

Klein apologized to the women and told them he and his wife do not make cakes for same-sex marriages. Klein said the women were disgusted and walked out.

“I believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by God,” said Klein. “A man should leave his mother and father and cling to his wife … that to me is the beginning of marriage.”

[...]

“I’d rather have my kids see their dad stand up for what he believes in then to see him bow down because one person complained.”

One of the women filed a complaint on January 28– also saying Klein referred to them as “abominations unto the Lord”– and now the Oregon Attorney General’s civil enforcement officers are investigating the claim.

But Klein says he never used harsh language and has no problem with homosexuals; he just doesn’t want to be a part of their marriage.

“I honestly did not mean to hurt anybody, didn’t mean to make anybody upset, [it’s] just something I believe in very strongly,” he told KATU.

When asked whether he’d be willing to lose his business over the matter, Klein said: “If I have to be to, I guess, be penalized for my beliefs, then I guess, well, that’ll be what it is.”

The case now presents a unique legal dilemma, according to reports, since Oregon law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the U.S. Constitution protects Klein’s freedom of religion.

Klein has two weeks to file his official account what happened before the attorney general’s office decides how to proceed.

KATU has more on the story, including an interview with Klein:

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Comments (623)

dadsrootbeer
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:57pm
No matter that all private businesses have the right to not serve everyone it is Oregon. Just wait for the lawsuits and this wacky far left state to go after them. Oh, the state already has.

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- football lady
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:13pm
  Yes, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the BSA, yet the bullying by the gay rights and ACLU keep trying to destroy them. The bullying of America by the ACLU and atheists will at some point bite them all in the buttocks.
  
  Report this comment
neverending
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:56pm
We are seeing more and more stories like these not just with bakers but with photographers as well. barry’s next target will be the churches – just wait and see!

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Leveraction3030
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:55pm
Keatty Boy, Why don’t you offer to bake the cake for them if you love their lifestyle so much. I am sure you are good at that sort of stuff along with arranging flowers.

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petermag
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:53pm
This is discrimination and against the law and not protected by the constitution. The only way he has a case if he wants to protect is religious rights is if he reopened his business as a wing of a religious institution or as a nonprofit religious organization that also sells cakes.

I understand him not wanting to violate his conscious. But he needs to remember that he is operating a business not a religious institution.

BTW, I agree with his religious views. But it is not my right or responsibility to impose my religious views on others. People have the god-given constitutional right to live their life in any way they please. The only work around I can think of is if it is claimed that he is a commissioned artist and should have the right to choose that whatever he designs does not violate his conscience.

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strawberry411a
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:51pm
Broken the LAW? A private business owner? Wow we may be closer than I thought. Gear up boys.

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Tmaster
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:48pm
Freedom of Association is a right guaranteed to us. Most people forget about this right and only quote freedom of religion. The state law violates our freedom of association rights.

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love_the_Right_hate
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:48pm
Keep up the screech right wing nutjobs. The rest of America will continue to laugh our asses off at your evolution-is-a-conspiracy and rape is a gift from God crazy asses.

Hilarious. F-ing hilarious!

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- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:54pm
  Naw. The only ones screeching will be you libs when you realize, just like your union brown noses, that you were horribly wrong. And it will be much too late by then.
  
  Report this comment
- 1FreeVoice
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:13pm
  Liberals are certain that if only everyone will do what the liberals tell them to do the world will be like heaven on earth…. We just have to speak in the approved manner (PC), eat and drink what the lords and masters approve ( think soda laws and regulations on school lunches) buy what you want us to ( insurance that meets requirements you designed) and NOT buy things you don’t approve of (like guns)… and if only the people who disagree with you and want to be left alone to live their own lives would just shut up and get in line everything would be just dandy.
  
  In the meantime we have a country where (more and more) you need someone else’s approval of your diet and speech, and required purchases. At the same time the final emergency provision set in the constitution is under threat from people who are sure we all need health insurance (but not government insurance). Furthermore this is a country where the law can be publicly broken by someone on the left without penalty, but someone who uses a firearm to save the life of a child being eaten alive by dogs is facing charges for having a gun in a city that outlawed them. WOW.
  
  Report this comment
LiberalsRCrazy
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:45pm
So I suppose that if he is forced to do same sex couple wedding cakes then he is also forced to do pedophilia cakes as well. Sexual orientation discrimination is against the law. This is ridiculous. He has the right to serve who he wants and his first amendment gives him that right.

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- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:49pm
  Awshoot – if that happens, his place will be crawling with sexual deviants from Washington, wanting something for their favorite horse, sheep, or chicken…
  
  Report this comment
waspanglosaxon
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:40pm
I may be dating myself here, but I can remember a time when any business owner could refuse any customer – with no reason being necessary. These days, it’s a court case!

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garbagecanlogic
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:37pm
Now I know why I left oregon and will never go back!!

Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8

The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.

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Comcast3
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:37pm
The Attorney’s General office is involved? I you friggin kidding?? He has the right to choose is customer base. Private business!!

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love_the_Right_hate
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:34pm
Every time a story like this appears I get thrilled because I know how quickly the right wing haters will come out and proclaim their hatred of another large swath of America. It’s not enough to despise liberals, the media, immigrants, teachers, unions, muslims, Democrats, women on the pill, you have to take it to yet another group: gays.

Your amazing ability to alienate yourselves from another group of Americans is truly remarkable.

Keep plugging away in your little cave of ignorance and hatred of the majority of America and keep losing voters. The vast majority of Americans support gay rights. And the vast majority of Americans despise right wing haters like the flood of creeps that screech on this site: one of the many homes of hate-filled Americans.

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- LiberalsRCrazy
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:52pm
  You need to invest in both a dictionary and grammar book. They will be worth the welfare money you spend if you intend to stay here and troll the other members.
  
  Report this comment
- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:55pm
  Right…and we are the ones with the word HATE written all over our posts. Give it a rest right HATE. Your hypocrisy is a little too overwhelming tonight.
  
  Report this comment
- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:07pm
  Why don’t you throw in a few more mother %$#@$% and a&^%$$ just to complete the image you present of another foul mouthed disgusting undisciplined liberal.
  
  Report this comment
MrKnowItAll
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:32pm
I’m Proud of this Gentlemen.

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- love_the_Right_hate
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:35pm
  Because you are a hate-filled right wing “Christian.”
  
  Have a great service tomorrow, worshipping your hate!
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:47pm
  @ “love” – What is so hateful about his post? Yours reminds me of graffiti I saw once, spray-painted on private property – ‘EF’ all haters”.
  
  It’s like favoring a gun whose barrel is always pointed back at you.
  
  Report this comment
- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:06pm
  This from right HATE. You people are amazingly blind and self centered in YOUR hate filled diatribe.
  
  Report this comment
- Smokey_Bojangles
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:08pm
  I am sure Hate would welcome a gun toting Christian in to his business.Since he loves Christians.
  
  Report this comment
PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:25pm
The jack booted obama SS troopers will kick in his door and explain that they will conform to Progressivism or be terminated.
His kids will receive the usual indoctrination to Marxism that all kids in public schools receive.
His wife will be forced to be a sex slave to butch lesbians.
Welcome to obamas America.

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Patroy
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:25pm
Is there a sight to donate to this baker’s legal fund?

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- phillipwgirard
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:53pm
  @PATROY, I contacted them by email,,,
  
  Report this comment
thibx
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:22pm
there is a big difference in just any sin and homosexuality. it a blood covenant between male and female given to them by God.

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mrja
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:21pm
this guy could have made them a fruitcake

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- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:24pm
  Schucks! Why didn’t i think of that?!? LOL!
  
  Report this comment
Mudd
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:20pm
The baker should have the right to refuse service to a gay couple? Should he have the right to refuse service to a black couple, or an ugly couple or a couple of morons? I like the idea of standing up for what you believe in, even if it’s something silly but I think the State has him here. The law is the law and discrimination is discrimination. He should have made the stupid cake and taken their worthless money.

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- From Virginia
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:07pm
  The black card doesn’t wash here. You’re a bigot and you speak nonsense. With your logic pastors MUST wed gay couples.
  
  What you should ask yourself is would this have even seen the light of day had the owner been of the muslim faith – and this IS a faith issue. Is it only alright that Christians are stripped of their businesses? If this is the case you are practicing the very persecution you are accusing others of.
  
  Report this comment
blanco5
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:18pm
You own your own business, you should be able to serve who you want to. Customers can choose to go there or take their business elsewhere….in a just world, but we know that’s not what we have right now.

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thibx
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:17pm
it his business he has his right to refuse. if the government tries to do anything to him people in his area should rise up against them, carry their arms. i am tired of these perverts pushing their way on the rest of us. it is time the government got out of people lives. God says it’s wrong and that settles it. any mother who would parade her daughter in there for a cake selection is screwed up herself.

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shawncforce
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:14pm
I run the front of my bakery just like he does. I never thought of what my response would be if asked to do a same sex wedding cake. I guess its time to think ahead and decide if it’s worth the punishment for not doing it. Whats next them shutting down my church or temple when they refuse to marry gay couples?

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- Smokey_Bojangles
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:08pm
  “Whats next them shutting down my church or temple when they refuse to marry gay couples?”
  Yes, It is.
  
  Report this comment
woodyee
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:13pm
I just sent them a nice message. If we get anything out of this website, it’s the load of opportunities to encourage those on the front lines to keep up the good fight. Speaking of good fights, I recruited 2 new NRA members today – yeah! for me…

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- love_the_Right_hate
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:39pm
  I live in Oregon. You can send all your love of hate messages you want to this creep – they are losing business. Oregon supports gay rights by a large margin. You love in that era where discrimination is king, you can keep claiming how cool you are.
  
  But that fact remains, you are in a shrinking minority of hateful, anti-eveything that isn’t white and old and right wing.
  
  You are a right wing, tea bag creep. And that’s all you will ever be. Not a thing to offer anyone but your sick and pathetic hate.
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:59pm
  @ love – just the other day, the Blaze posted a story of some Middle -Eastern gay caught between his desire to be accepted as gay and the reality that his sexual desires were unnatural. His wish was to change the entire country so that it could be forced to accept his view of reality. That is a sickness.
  
  Such is yours.
  
  Report this comment
- earache-my-eye
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:43pm
  So far @Love-Hate hasn’t contributed anything but call people names.Thanks for signing up today king of the d.b.’s
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 3, 2013 at 8:21am
  WOODYEE, Yeah, I can see that LOVE/HATE is just another Howler Monkey.
  
  Report this comment
The highlander
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:12pm
In the 20th century countries were Marxist/Fascist ideologies occupied a nation hundreds of millions were murdered. America will be no different if it continues down its current trajectory. Millions will be slaughtered and many will lose their souls if we do not reverse course. This is the historical reality of China, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany; all were godless, tyrannical, brutal, and perverse. Sexual perversity is trademark reality of the leftist regimes it is reflected by the many forms debauched entertainment and degenerate sexual conduct practiced by the academic, social, and ruling elite. The Nazi party was replete with sadistic murderous homosexuals while the former Soviet Union under Lenin and his future devotees in academic and psychiatric quarters saw sexual perversity as a military stratagem to subjugate Western Christian nations. Lenin may be dead but his strategy to destroy Western Christian hegemony and free markets carries on in America where everyone is under psychological, spiritual and physical warfare. This how the Satanic elite work – use the Hegelian dialectic of a manufactured crisis designed to push different groups into a planned conflict and then apply a solution that was prefabricated before the event arose – in this case the solution is to destroy Christianity, the traditional family and the US Constitution. Christians have as much right to shun homosexual behavior as Gay’s have a temporal right to engage in it. WAKE UP

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- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:21pm
  Excellent post – thank you.
  
  Report this comment
- love_the_Right_hate
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:46pm
  “Satanic elite.” Yeah — you are really representative of normal Americans.
  
  You people are hilarious. You think because you are on this piddly blog of creeps and live in hillbilly counties still waiting for indoor plumbing that you know a thing about the America of the 21st century.
  
  You are a caveman. You hate most Americans, love the most hated people in America (Rush, Gningrish, etc) and think the world is 6,000 years old because… well, because you are a total idiot.
  
  Good luck winning another national election with your feeble little minds dragging the Republican Party further into the gutter of CRAZY!
  
  You people are nuts. But you are fodder for the rest of us who are laughing our butts off at your stupidity.
  
  Report this comment
Keatonc333
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:07pm
I am sure he refuses to make cakes for people on their second marriage too! right? because the bible also says thats a sin.

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- woodyee
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:23pm
  How convenient to pick and choose what parts of the Bible to quote to your advantage, and deny to same.
  Hypocrite.
  
  Report this comment
- thibx
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:24pm
  study some more i think you need to.
  
  Report this comment
- Clownzilla
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:26pm
  Lol, seriously? So if your spouse dies then you are a sinner if you marry again? Are you for real?
  
  Report this comment
- love_the_Right_hate
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:41pm
  Back to your girlfriend on your computer screen “woodie!”
  
  You are a classic loser tea bag.
  
  But keep screeching your hate — it helps the democrats make the point that Republicans are capable of nothing but being the party of ignorance and negativity!
  
  Report this comment
- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:02pm
  Keaton…bitter bitter bitter. What’s the matter. God not grant you a wish or something to be a millionaire and now it’s the Christian’s fault. grow up man…or get a job and get off the blog sites.
  
  Report this comment
- strawberry411a
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:03pm
  …and right hate, stay put. I haven’t been so amused by such childish commentary in quite some time. keep it up.
  
  Report this comment
- From Virginia
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 10:33pm
  @Keaton – No it doesn’t.
  
  Thanks for playing.
  
  Report this comment
noslave
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 9:07pm
i would have baked them a cake to remember??the quality/taste is never gaurenteed??,the choclate EX-LAX iceing would be one idea,you wouldn’t want to know the filling,its also brown,fudge packers would love it??

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