The Oregon bakery owners found guilty
of discriminating against a lesbian couple have paid $135,000 in
state-ordered damages.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of
Sweet Cakes by Melissa, were found guilty of unlawfully
discriminating against the couple when they refused to make a cake
for the women's commitment ceremony.
For nearly six months the couple
refused to pay the damages.
Aaron Klein paid $136,927.07 on Monday,
which includes accrued interest. He also paid $7,000 earlier this
month.
Aaron Klein declined to make the cake
for the women on January 17, 2013. Klein said he does not hate gays
but that making a cake for a same-sex wedding would violate his
faith. (At the time, Oregon had the nation's most robust domestic
partnership law. Following a federal judge's ruling in May, 2014,
Oregon became the 18th state to allow gay and lesbian
couples to marry.)
In refusing to pay the debt, the Kleins
had claimed financial hardship. But critics pint out that supporters
of the couple have raised at least $515,000 in 3 crowdfunding
accounts to help them with expenses.
State officials said that they were
looking to establish property or asset liens to collect the money.
Damn, even after the fine, bigotry pays off big time.
No comments:
Post a Comment