The Christian owners of an Oregon bakery ordered to pay a $135,000 fine for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple are requesting a stay of enforcement, meaning that they will not have to pay up unless their appeal fails.
Aaron Klein, who owns the Sweetcakes by Melissa bakery with his wife Melissa, confirmed to The Blaze on Wednesday that they would do all they can to avoid paying the fine, which is due on Monday.
"I will not relent. I will continue," Klein said. "I will use every legal remedy I have to make sure that this man [Oregon Labour Commissioner Brad Avakian, who handed the bakery the order] cannot do this to me, cannot do it to my wife, cannot do it to my five children, [and] cannot do it to any other American."
A discrimination case against the Kleins was originally filed by a lesbian couple in 2013, who were refused service because the bakery said it did not make cakes for same-sex couples due to their Christian beliefs.
Refusing to serve someone because of their sexual orientation is illegal under Oregon law. The state's Labour Bureau wrote in its final order: "Within Oregon's public accommodations law is the basic principle of human decency that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, has the freedom to fully participate in society – the ability to enter public places, to shop, to dine, to move about unfettered by bigotry."
The Kleins were therefore ordered to "cease and desist from denying the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of Sweetcakes by Melissa to any person based on that person's sexual orientation."
However, Klein told The Blaze that this is an "overreach of the government" and said "we're looking at the persecution of Christians in this country".
A crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the couple has now reached over $300,000 – more than twice its original goal. If they lose their appeal, the Kleins will owe interest and other fees on top of the fine.
According to The Blaze, even if donations cover the full amount, Klein said there remains a wider religious freedom issue in the US.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Oregon since 2014, and it was legalised across all states two weeks ago.
