Oregon Lowers the Fine for Cake Shop That Refused to Serve Lesbian Couple in 2013 - Willamette Week

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry has reduced the fine it imposed on a cake shop that refused to serve a lesbian couple in 2013, the agency announced today.

The fine is now $30,000, down from $135,00.

The decision comes after the Oregon Court of Appeals ordered the state to reconsider the fine, but upheld the 2015 decision from BOLI that the Gresham bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa, run by Aaron and Melissa Klein, discriminated against the couple in refusing to make them a wedding cake.

Related: Oregon Court Revisits Case of Cake Shop Owners Who Refused to Sell Cake to Lesbian Couple in 2013

“As BOLI originally found, and as affirmed at the Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, Aaron Klein violated Oregon’s public accommodation law,” said Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle in a statement. “Per the direction of the Court of Appeals, we have recalibrated the damages awarded to complainants to fall squarely within the range of such awards in previous BOLI public accommodations cases, given the record established in this case. This award is based on the violation of law, the record in the proceeding, and is consistent with BOLI case history.”

The original fine was set by Hoyle’s predecessor, Brad Avakian. The Sweet Cakes by Melissa case plunged Oregon into the center of a national debate about LGBTQ+ civil rights and religious freedom but as WW reported in 2013, the extent of the discrimination against the couple was widely misunderstood.

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