Can Anyone Say 'Conflict of Interest'?': Blaze Readers React to Twist in the Story Surrounding Oregon Bakers Who Face a Major Fine for Refusing to Make a Gay Wedding Cake

TheBlaze posted a story earlier this week about a conflict of interest in the case of Oregon bakers who face a fine for refusing to make a cake for a lesbian wedding.

Image source: Sweet Cakes by Melissa/Facebook

There are questions of whether the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and Basic Rights Oregon — a gay-rights group — have been in close communication with each other. Records indicate the officials with the government body were “participating in phone calls, texting, and attending meetings with Basic Rights Oregon,” including claims that commissioner Brad Avakian met multiple times with the group.

Here's what some readers of TheBlaze had to say about the issue:

demsaredumb

The deviants could care less about a cake; they want to FORCE their sick ideas on other people.

Cavallo

There’s a great business opportunity here.

A Marriage Club, managed by a church or group of churches with specific guidelines, or just a group of people who believe strongly in traditional forms of marriage.

Then businesses that have moral objections to certain functions can cease doing them for the general public and just contract with the Marriage Club.

Like the AARP, the Club could also seek discounts for its members from bakeries, florists, dress shops, tux shops, etc.

justthinkinoutloud

But then they might have to drive all the way to the other side of town (four miles), and they just don’t have time for that. I still say that the baker should have just charged a very high price or baked something the gay couple would not have wanted. If my personal beliefs prevent me from praising your personal beliefs, I should have the right to act accordingly. If it becomes a discrimination matter, simply comply and make something awful so you won’t be bothered again. Refusing to make the cake is discrimination, but making something that costs a fortune, tastes bad or looks horrible is not, unless you make the cake offensive. If you’ve got a good reputation as a baker, this incident will pass and your rep will be safe — but one type of client will not be back. You don’t go back to the same crappy mechanic, do you?

baddham

They don’t even need a gay baker. Just go to another baker who is less religious. l’m sure the percentage of bakers who don’t want to make cakes for gay weddings is extremely low. People almost would have to go out of their way to find bakers who won’t do it.

lanceintx

“The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees his day is coming.” — Psalm 37:12-13

jd2066

The gay mafia is using the government to get free weddings and some walking-around money. That’s all this is.

hi

Get rid of "I’m offended” laws, a.k.a. discrimination laws. Let the free market work. The U.S. is about freedom for all. No one should be forced against their will to do something. The discrimination laws have made doing business in the U.S. too expensive because businesses are inundated with false discrimination cases that cost business owners untold dollars to prove their innocence. This drives businesses overseas, and it's the reason corporations want to hire foreigners with visas instead of U.S. workers.

Libertyluvnmomma

"I am sorry, I can’t make your gay cake. I don’t want to offend Muslims.”

rosegrower

Can anyone say “conflict of interest”? In a logical world that actually follows the rule of law, Avakian would be told to recuse himself from the case.

USAF_SP

As an atheist, I side with the bakers. I wouldn’t walk into a place of worship for any religion and demand that the leader provide me and my fellow atheists a sermon on how evolution trumps creationism. The beautiful thing about America — at least it WAS a beautiful thing about America— is that we are all entitled to our own opinions.

fatfenders

Pretty sure most of these cases are setups. The gay couple knows full well (1) they will not get served, (2) there is a business down the street that WILL serve them.

tg81001

Let’s start with the fact that same-sex marriage was not recognized by the state of Oregon at the time this “offense” occurred. In fact state law at that time specified marriage as between a man and a woman. The activist judge has imposed a standard in direct conflict with the law as it existed at the time the bakery service was denied. There is no legal foundation to support the decision other than the judge's personal beliefs. The decision is coercive, discriminatory, and a major breech of judicial ethics.

The decision elevates a non-right over enumerated rights, e.g., freedom of association, freedom of belief, freedom to not contract. Being allowed to force someone to labor against their will is the definition of slavery. The only place our legal system allows this to happen is prison.

Now we learn that there is a preexisting relationship between the plaintiff and the arbiter. There most certainly was an actionable violation of rights here; but not by the Kleins; it was perpetrated on the Kleins. I encourage them to bring a counter claim against the Oregon Department of Labor and Basic Rights Oregon for the willful malicious infliction of emotional distress and economic harm. Ask for $1 million.

The LGBT community seeks to normalize a mental illness. The PRI radio show “This American Life” has documented how the LGBT community coercively had homosexuality removed from the psychiatric DSM by gay psychiatrists. How totally self-serving.

Caremom

When the looming six-figure judgment is finalized, the Klein family will lose their home, their business, their cars. These parents will lose the means to feed and shelter their children. The Go-Fund Me account was taken down. Does anyone know about the funding site Franklin Graham set up for the family? As a mom it hurts my heart to see this happen to a family. Still, on the radio interview with Billy Hallowell, the parents did express trust in their God who will bless them in the end.

One of the Quiet Ones

All of the businesses that don’t want to make wedding cakes for gay weddings should do the following. Put a sign in your business that says:

"Due to our religious beliefs we do not wish to make cakes for nontraditional weddings. We will, however, because it is the law. We just want you to know that we feel that it's a violation of our first amendment rights. Trying to force us to take this sign down would also be a violation of our first amendment rights. Now, do you still want us to make your cake?"

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