An Oregon appeals court told a state agency Wednesday to reconsider its order for a Christian couple to pay $135,000 in damages for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding on grounds that the state’s actions did "not reflect … neutrality toward religion." However, the panel upheld its earlier ruling that their bakery violated state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Aaron and Melissa Klein, who owned Sweetcakes by Melissa in Gresham, have engaged in years of litigation over an Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries order punishing them for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. In a decision Wednesday , a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon maintained that the Kleins unlawfully discriminated against the same-sex couple by refusing to make the cake for Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer in 2013. However, the panel reversed the order requiring the couple to pay $135,000 in damages. Circuit Judge Erin Lagesen, the author of the panel opinion, concluded that “we adhere to our prior decision upholding BOLI’s determinations that Aaron unlawfully discriminated against the Bowman-Cryers based on sexual orientation.” “We reach a different conclusion with respect to our […]
