Oregon Baker's LGBTQ+ Discrimination Fine Reduced by Over $100k
An Oregon baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple almost ten years ago has received a reduction in financial penalties.Following an appeals court ruling, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Tuesday that Aaron Klein has been ordered to pay $30,000 instead of the $135,000 fine initially levied.Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer filed a complaint in 2013 against Melissa and Aaron Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.
The bakery refused to make the couple a wedding cake, the couple said.Oregon’s Court of Appeals twice upheld a ruling that the bakery discriminated against the couple, the Associated Press reports.
The court ruled in January that the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries did not exhibit religious neutrality when issuing the fine and remanded the case to the civil rights division.In the 2018 Supreme Court Masterpiece Cakeshop case, in which the Supreme Court sided narrowly with a Colorado baker who refused service to a same-sex couple on religious grounds and had also been fined, the court wiped out the damages.
According to the justices, Colorado’s punishment was biased against the baker’s faith. As a result, the Oregon Court of Appeals was ordered to revisit the Sweet Cakes case.Considering the new Supreme Court standards, Oregon appellate judges believed the steep penalty demonstrated bias.
