UPDATE::Aaron And Melissa Klein Head For Big (Money) Leagues With New Attorney - The New Civil Rights Movement

None of this will Aaron or Melissa Klein ever admit to in public, nor, likely, will their new attorneys.

The Kleins have received well over half a million dollars from concerned and supportive conservative Christians outraged that the husband and wife, "good Christians," "lost their business," or so the Kleins claim, and were themselves subjected to harassment.

The Kleins have also started a new business, of sorts: they are now stars on the religious freedom talk circuit, making the rounds to events sponsored by the likes of the Family Research Council and other anti-gay groups.

“The past three years have been devastating,” Melissa Klein says in a press release today from First Liberty, formerly the Liberty Institute. “Just because we couldn’t participate in an event that violated our religious beliefs, we lost our business. We were committed to serving everyone regardless of their circumstances at all other times.”

First Liberty in their press release describes Melissa Klein as the "former owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa," and to show just how much compassion the young couple deserve, First Liberty proudly has placed a photo of the Kleins in front of their van, their van that says, "Sweet Cakes by Melissa," with a web address: SweetCakesWeb.com. If you click on it you might be confused, because the Kleins, as you can see, are still very much in business.
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The Kleins have apparently dropped their now-former attorney and, like elected officials who want to make big money after doing their stint of public service, have signed on to a top firm. The only difference is instead of a signing with a speakers firm, they've signed with a law firm. First Liberty, headed by the infamous Kelly Shackleford, says it is the "largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom."

But just like a speakers' firm, the Kleins have their own page at Fist Liberty, and you can even use it to "Book an interview" with them.

Aaron And Melissa Klein Head For Big (Money) Leagues With New Attorney - The New Civil Rights Movement

ADDENDUM::Bakers Who Were Fined $135,000 for Refusing to Make Gay Wedding Cake Explain Why They’re Continuing to Defy the Order | TheBlaze.com

Melissa Klein, owner of the embattled Sweetcakes by Melissa bakery, explained on Monday why she and her husband, Aaron, continue to ignore a $135,000 judgement imposed over their refusal to make a lesbian wedding cake, saying that they don’t want to set a bad precedent.

“We feel like we shouldn’t have to pay when we haven’t even gotten due process,” Klein told TheBlaze. “We also feel like we’re taking a stand for the next person … that this could happen to. We don’t want to set a precedent.”
She continued, “We want to fight this, and we want to fight this all the way.”

Her comments were in response to Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries spokesman Charlie Burr, who recently told the Daily Signal that the agency is “exploring collection options,” which could set the stage for the government to go after the Kleins’ home and assets.

Bakers Who Were Fined $135,000 for Refusing to Make Gay Wedding Cake Explain Why They’re Continuing to Defy the Order | TheBlaze.com

See also:  Officials Move to Take Christian Bakers’ Home After Couple Refuses to Pay $135,000 to Lesbians

UPDATE:: State Takes Legal Action to Seize $135K From Oregon Bakers

The agency that ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 in damages for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex couple began the legal process last week to seize the money the Oregon bakers are refusing to pay.

“Our agency has docketed the judgment and is exploring collection options,” Charlie Burr, communications director for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, told The Daily Signal. “They are entitled to a full and fair review of the case, but do not have the right to disregard a legally binding order.”

Docketing the judgment is a preliminary step the agency must take in order to seize the Kleins’ house, property, or other assets in lieu of payment.
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“There’s legal reasons and there’s also kind of personal reasons,” Aaron Klein told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “If a civil court or a circuit court judge had made this order, I would consider it legally binding. But when a bureaucracy does it and I didn’t get due process, I don’t call it legally binding.”

State Takes Legal Action to Seize $135K From Oregon Bakers

ADDENDUM::Sweet Cakes bakers send cakes to LGBTQ groups as 'expression of love' | OregonLive.com

A perfect demonstrate that money and intolerance are what the Christo-fascist really believe in,,,

The Oregon bakers who cited their Christian beliefs in refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding sent custom-designed cakes this week to 10 LGBTQ organizations as an expression of love, the bakery's namesake said Thursday.

Melissa Klein said she and her husband Aaron, owners of the Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery, sent the cakes Wednesday to the groups, along with a copy of the movie "Audacity" and a gift card provided by Ray Comfort, the film's executive producer.
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Melissa Klein said in her email Thursday that she hadn't received responses yet from any of the 10 LGBTQ groups.
"Our purpose is to express our love for them as a Christian," she wrote. "We don't hate them. We also included in the package the movie Audacity. I feel it is a well done movie that shows what being a Christian is about. My hope is that they will watch it and maybe just understand our heart.  We want to show them that it's not about not serving them it's about not being able to partake in an event."
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Jeana Frazzini, co-director of the Oregon group, dismissed the bakers' gesture.

"You can't one day send out a batch of cakes that say 'We really do love you' and the next day stand at a podium and advocate for discrimination against LGBTQ people," she said. "This gesture is not about those cakes. It's about standing for the Oregon values of fairness and inclusion and that's what BRO stands for."

As noted by the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, "The Kleins don’t care. They got the publicity they wanted. And, their fundraiser is still open, which is totally coincidental, I’m sure,,,."

Sweet Cakes bakers send cakes to LGBTQ groups as 'expression of love' | OregonLive.com

Cruz: 'Liberal Fascism' Seeks 'To Persecute, To Punish, To Fine' Any Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage | Right Wing Watch

Same four or five “victims” of so-called persecuted, Christianists that have been at every anti-gay event in the last couple of years: former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran, florist Baronnelle Stutzman, bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein, Mennonite couple Dick and Betty Odgaard, and former Air Force Sgt. Phillip Monk.

Cruz is desperate to up his polling numbers enough to make the cut for the next GOP debate.  It's a crowded field  dominated by Donald Trump, contenders like Cruz have to up his rhetoric just to register on the news radar.   According to the Washington Post: 

Cruz has said that 2016 will be a “religious liberty election,” and is working to woo the religious right, which has a strong constituency here, in the early voting state of South Carolina and in the rest of the South, which is set to play a major role in the Republican nominating contest.
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While Cruz will be competing for the evangelical vote with candidates including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former senator Rick Santorum and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, few have been as vociferous about the notion that religious liberty is under attack than Cruz. He brought up the issue repeatedly during a bus tour of the South last week, repeatedly promising that on his first day in office he would direct federal agencies not to meddle with people who believe they have stayed firm to their religious beliefs in the face of social change.

And so it seems that was the point of the "Rally for Religious Liberty" in Iowa, pander to the base.  Although it appears his "scripted" day did not start very well,

"What about the question about LGBT people being fired for being gay-trans?" Page asked.

"Well, what we're seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith," Cruz said.

"You're discriminating against LGBT people," Page said. "Well, would you use that argument in segregation?"
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Cruz cited the Gortz Haus case where the Iowa business denied letting a same-sex couple use their wedding chapel due to their religious beliefs. The courts ruled against the couple. The couple decided to stop offering wedding rentals to all couples and then recently closed this summer.

"Now I’m happy to answer your question, but not to have a back-and-forth debate," said Cruz. "No one has the right to force someone else to abandon their faith and their conscience."

According to RRW, Cruz made his rounds:

Mickelson asked Cruz to discuss his fight against the “brazenness of the atheist Taliban” and the fact that “anytime they furrow their brow at anyone [people] fold up and go home and give them what they want.”

Cruz, who has previously railed against what he called a gay “jihad" against Christians, apparently liked Mickelson’s phrase, and took it up while describing his work fighting against church-state separation efforts.

“There is an assault on faith and an assault on religious liberty that we see across this country and it has never been as bad as it is right now,” he said, claiming that “radical atheists and liberals” are “driving any acknowledgment of God out of the public square.”

He also spoke with Ed Berliner on Newsmax to discuss what Cruz calls "liberal fascism" which has a "hatred and intolerance for Christians."

Berliner asked Cruz how he planned to bring both sides together when the Republican Party has a reputation that it "does not like homosexuals, that you are anti-gay" and that it supports anti-gay discrimination. Cruz, predictably, refused to address that issue, insisting simply that "I'm a Christian and Scripture commands Christians to love everybody" before declaring that the real issue is the supposed government persecution of people of faith.
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"What we're seeing now," he said, "is this liberal fascism and intolerance where their object is to persecute, to punish, to fine any Bible-following Christian or believer that believes in the biblical definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. And that is profoundly inconsistent with who we are as Americans."
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"There are some activists who, frankly, manifest a hatred and intolerance for Christians, who are persecuting Christians," Cruz said. "That is unfortunate. As I said, I think we should love everybody."

Cruz: 'Liberal Fascism' Seeks 'To Persecute, To Punish, To Fine' Any Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage | Right Wing Watch

See also:

Ted Cruz Called God’s Candidate At Anti-Gay Rally In Iowa: VIDEO

Candace Cameron Bure: Allowing business to discriminate is part of what makes America ‘wonderful’ | Gay Star News

Writer, The View co-host and Full House actor Candace Cameron Bure has reiterated her convinction that business owners with deeply held religious views should be allowed to turn away customers if they believe that providing service to them conflicts with their faith.

Cameron Bure – the sister of homophobic, evangelical Christian Kirk Cameron – made the comments in an interview with HuffPost Live.

Last month, Cameron Bure clashed with The View co-host Raven Symoné over the issue of bakeries that refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. Raven Symoné was critical of a bakery in Oregon that had refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, but Cameron Bure leapt to its defense.

‘I don’t think this is discrimination at all. This is about freedom of association. It’s about constitutional rights. It’s about First Amendment rights. It’s about having the right to still choose who we associate with,’ she said at the time.

‘[They] didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of [the couple’s] sexual orientation. In fact, they baked cakes for them previously. They had a problem with the actual ceremony because that – the ceremony – is what conflicted with their religious beliefs.’

Candace Cameron Bure: Allowing business to discriminate is part of what makes America ‘wonderful’ | Gay Star News

Show Notes:: Oregon silences bakers,,,Not (Pt 1)

There has been a lot of stink of late surrounding the recent BOLI ruling concerning Sweet Cakes by Melissa.  The Oregon bakery  that refused service to a lesbian couple.  My introduction to said hyperbolic rantings by the Reich concerning the aftermath of the ruling came via Todd Starnes:

Shut up! Don’t say another word.

That’s what the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) is telling the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, a bakery owned by Christians who refused to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding.

On Friday the state ordered owners Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple they turned away in 2013.

The state also slapped a gag order on the evangelical Christian bakers – banning them from speaking publicly about their refusal to participate in or bake wedding cakes for same-sex unions.

“This effectively strips us of all our First Amendment rights,” Mrs. Klein wrote on Facebook. “According to the state of Oregon, we neither have freedom of religion or freedom of speech.”

So three points are at issue

• Yes, the Kleins were ordered to pay 135K in damages.  Damages being the key word.
• No, the Kleins were not "slapped with a gag order"
• And, no the Kleins First Amendment rights have not been infringed upon.

I am only going to hit one issue for now for the sake of brevity:  In order to understand the damages awarded, one must look at the timeline of events as a whole.

According to the BOLI ruling, or final order as it is termed, the timeline of events is laid out starting on pp 3-21, The initial complaint was filed in 2013. In 2014, BOLI commenced an investigation and found that the Kleins did indeed discriminate based on sexual orientation. At that time BOLI began a conciliation process between the two parties to see if a settlement could be reached. It was not successful and charges were pursued by the state before an administrative law judge.

During this time period, Aaron Klein inadvertently revealed the (now) Bowman-Cryer's names and address.  As explained by BOLI beginning on page 9, Laurel Bowman was unaware of the disclaimer on the BOLI form for submitting a complaint (explained in the ruling). On page 12 it continues with BOLI notifying the Kleins of said complaint with the names and address of the Bowman-Cryers included.

The next day Klein published the first page of said complaint to F/B, it was removed later in the day. By the next day it hit the news. It devolved from there.  Keep in mind the Bowman-Cryers only released 1 media comment via their attorney, all subsequent media comments concerning said case came via the Kleins, their mouthpieces or BOLI.

According to BOLI's ruling Aaron Klein was not the initiator of the media interviews mentioned above (p 19) nor did BOLI feel he released the names of the Bowman-Cyers other than on F/B.  As BOLI notes when Aaron Klein posted to F/B he only had "17 friends". BUT then again the Kleins continued with their media frenzy though according to BOLI contact was not initiated by the Kleins.

That is where I think Lars Larson's influence comes into play as well as Alliance Defending Freedom (and you all know my feelings toward ADF).  It was not the Kleins per se that where doxxing the Bowman-Cryers but those on their side of the case pushing the media driven agenda for sympathy and money for the coffers; from Franklin Graham to the American Family Association.  But ultimate responsibility falls on the Kleins.

The Alliance Defending Freedom wants to take America back to the 3rd century. Literally. On the website for its legal fellowship program, the organization explains that it “seeks to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.”

“This is catholic, universal orthodoxy and it is desperately crucial for cultural renewal,” the explanation goes on. “Christians must strive to build glorious cultural cathedrals, rather than shanty tin sheds.”

While the Arizona-based organization has not made much progress in its mission of restoring the religious sentiments of the Byzantine Era, it has built a massive “legal ministry,” relying on 21st century attorneys and an eight-figure annual budget to reshape American law and society.

So all of this factored into the awarding of damages, and it is important to keep in mind, the Bowman-Cryers, during all of this, where trying to adopt their foster children and told by state officials that if they couldn’t protect the foster children in their home from the harassment that resulted from the Klein’s public posting of their home address, etc., they would lose the children (pp. 13-14).

As to why the damages awarded may seem so high:

The BOLI Final Order awards $60,000 in damages to Laurel Bowman-Cryer and $75,000 in damages to Rachel Bowman-Cryer for emotional suffering stemming directly from unlawful discrimination. The amounts are damages related to the harm suffered by the Complainants, not fines or civil penalties which are punitive in nature.

The Final Order notes that the non-economic damages are consistent with the agency’s previous orders, such as an earlier ruling against a Bend dentist In the Matter of Andrew W. Engle. In that case, BOLI awarded a Christian employee $325,000 in damages for physical, mental and emotion suffering due to religious discrimination and harassment

Since the Kleins brought the case to the media’s attention (Aaron's F/B posting and subsequent aftermath) and kept it there by repeatedly appearing in public (numerous interviews) to make statements it would be foreseeable that this attention would negatively impact the Bowman-Cryers, which makes the Kleins liable for any resultant emotional suffering experienced by Complainants.

In all honesty, I am surprised that the damages awarded were not higher.  Although the mark the award is set at, I believe, is explained quite well within the BOLI ruling.

Remember what I said in regards to "those on their side of the case pushing the media driven agenda for sympathy and money for the coffers; from Franklin Graham to the American Family Association."

This came across my news feed late last night:

As it stands now the Kleins have yet to pay damages although they have raked in $405,000+ in fundraising all because they chose to break the law. In the process they humiliated 2 individuals and put their children in harms way.

NCRM has reported before on the fundraising efforts promoted by religious extremists, from Franklin Graham to the American Family Association. A week ago donations to various fundraising campaigns came to about as much as the Kleins' $135,000 fine – which reportedly has yet to be paid. Now, those efforts have turned into a cash cow for the Kleins. Whenever they ultimately decide to cash out, they'll be rolling in the dough.

As we noted last week, Franklin Graham has been hosting a fundraising campaign for them via his Samaritan's Purse charity, and a GoFundMe campaign delivered reportedly about $60,000 after taxes before it was shut down, although some state that number was closer to $80,000.

Another fundraising campaign via Continue To Give last week had taken in over $55,000. Today, eight days later, that figure is about $345,000. Most of those donations appear to be anonymous, but Continue To Give lists 7,537 separate donations, an average of about $45 each.

The anti-gay hate group American Family Association has been promoting the fundraising campaign as a way to grow their own donor base, asking supporters to sign a petition linking to the Continue To Give campaign, while handing over their email addresses so AFA can later spam them. The petition also falsely claims a "gag order" is in place, generating even more sympathy for the Kleins.

The American Family Association is far from the only right wing group promoting the Kleins as religious celebrities. The Heritage Foundation, headed by the virulently anti-gay former U.S. Republican Senator Jim DeMint,,,

So please tell me again what this case is all about?

Hopefully, if your interest wasn't already piqued by these "religious liberty" type cases, I may gently shove you into paying attention.  In the end these cases (and other like then) have nothing to do with baking a cake.  To borrow from something I have stated before,

It is just this issue that Barry Lynne of Americans United for Separation of Church and State was concerned about in regards to the Hobby Lobby case. Lynn stated that the primary concern is contraceptive coverage under the ACA; but the agenda of the Religious Right is the right to opt out of ANY federal or state law(s) they do not like because of actual or alleged violation of THEIR religious principles.

All the legal mumbo jumbo aside, the Kleins and the ADF are still blatantly asking to be allowed to break a law because they are special. They are asking for a special privilege because they are religionists. Even if one where to take religion out of it, they are still wanting to break the law.

And guess what?  We get to have this conversation all over again in a few weeks/months, as ADF has another fundraising case on the dockets as I type, although this is an appeal. 

There will be more to come!!

Sweet Cakes final order: Gresham bakery must pay $135,000 for denying service to same-sex couple | OregonLive.com

"This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage. It is about a business's refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal."

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian on Thursday ordered the owners of a former Gresham bakery to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for refusing to make them a wedding cake.

Avakian's ruling upheld a preliminary finding earlier this year that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa had discriminated against the women on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Bakery owners Melissa and Aaron Klein cited their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage in denying service. The case ignited a long-running skirmish in the nation's culture wars, pitting civil rights advocates against religious freedom proponents who argued business owners should have the right to refuse services for gay and lesbian weddings.

Avakian's final order makes clear that serving potential customers equally trumps the Kleins' religious beliefs. Under Oregon law, businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said in a news release.

Sweet Cakes final order: Gresham bakery must pay $135,000 for denying service to same-sex couple | OregonLive.com