Oregon bakery appeals fine for turning away lesbian couple
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Melissa Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, in Gresham,Ore., tells a customer that the bakery has sold out of baked goods for the day in 2013. Klein is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court after she was fined for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.
PORTLAND, Ore. >> The owners of a shuttered Oregon bakery fined for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Oregonian reports that lawyers for Melissa and Aaron Klein, former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, filed the petition today.
They’re asking the high court to overturn a state order to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they turned away.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries imposed the fine in 2015 after finding the Kleins had violated a state anti-discrimination law. An Oregon appeals court upheld the order, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The U.S. high court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker in a similar case, but that decision didn’t address whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to lesbian and gay people.
