‘Anti-gay bakers’ GoFundMe shut down
The fundraising website GoFundMe has shut down a donation page for Aaron and Melissa Klein, the former owners of the Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery in Gresham, Ore. The bakers fell victim to discrimination lawsuits, claims after rejecting service for a gay wedding – the campaign was to pay the fines levied against the business owners.
“The GoFundMe account that was set up to help our family was shut down by the administrators of GoFundMe because they claimed it was raising money for an illegal purpose,” the Kleins said Saturday morning in a post on the Sweet Cakes by Melissa Facebook page. “We are working to get the account reinstated.”
A supporter of the Kleins had set up the fundraising page after an Oregon judge on Friday set a fine of $135,000 for the couple as punishment for declining to bake a wedding cake for two lesbians.
The page had raised more than $66,000 before GoFundMe terminated the page. GoFundMe said the Kleins would be able to access the money raised so far.
“Lesbian” wedding mock-cake at the Roma Gay Pride in 2008. Picture by Stefano Bolognini via wikimedia commons.
“After careful review by our team, we have found the ‘Support Sweet Cakes By Melissa’ campaign to be in violation of our Terms and Conditions and have removed this campaign,” the company told The Oregonian.
The Kleins said supporters could donate to their cause through Samaritan’s Purse.
The fine comes almost three months after Administrative Judge Alan McCullough ruled the couple violated an Oregon statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The funds will go to the lesbian couple for “emotional, mental, and physical suffering.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, compared the move to a facist state.
“An Oregon judge made clear in no uncertain terms to the Kleins and all Oregonians that the state has the right to demand that citizens engage in activities that violate their beliefs and if they refuse, they will lose their ability to make a living,” he said in a prepared statement. “In a free country, this is a ruling that cannot and must not stand. … A government able to bankrupt people for standing by their deepest beliefs is a government of unbridled power and a threat to everyone’s freedom.”
The Kleins closed their storefront in Gresham, a suburb of Portland, Ore., in 2013 shortly after Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman filed a civil rights complaint against them. At that time, same-sex marriage still wasn’t legal in Oregon.
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