Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
The Christian owners of a bakery in Oregon that refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding were ordered to keep quiet about their conscientious objections to the unions – a gag order they have every intention of defying.
FoxNews.com is reporting on the story of Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes who were ordered by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian to pay a $135,000 fine for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding in 2013. The ruling also includes a gag order against the Kleins ordering them to “cease and desist” from making any statements about refusing to service gay and lesbian weddings.
Even though the order specifically forbad the couple to speak to any news organizations, the ink was barely dry before the Kleins went straight to the press, calling Fox’s Todd Starnes to express their outrage.
“This man has no power over me,” Aaron Klein said about Avakian and his unconstitutional gag order. “He seems to think he can tell me to be quiet. That doesn’t sit well with me – and I refuse to comply.”
Avakian admitted two years ago that he’s gunning for Christian business owners who don’t share his ideological point-of-view on gay marriage.
In 2013, he told the Oregonian that his goal is “never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate.”
How exactly does Avakian plan on purging Christians of their religious beliefs, Starnes asks. “Is the state of Oregon running a reeducation camp? Or maybe they prefer to use shock therapy. I’m truly interested to know what sort of conversion therapy treatments Avakian uses.”
However, Starnes can’t get the answers he seeks because Avakian is hiding under this desk and refusing to return his calls.
As for the Kleins, they’re not going to be gagged.
“They picked the wrong guy,” Aaron said. “When my constitutional freedoms have been violated by the state, I’m going to speak out. That’s the way it is.”
Melissa Klein said she was shocked that the state of Oregon thinks they have the power to silence her voice.
“For us to not be able to speak about it – that’s our freedom of speech,” she said. “All Americans should be free to live and work by their faith and speak their mind.”
The Klein’s aren’t the only people who are shocked by the state’s behavior. Christians have been rallying the couple’s assistance ever since the issue arose two years ago and donated nearly $100,000 toward the fine until the crowdfunding site, GoFundMe, decided it had a policy against “discrimination” and then discriminated against their Christian view point by shutting down the page.
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins is calling the magnitude of the state’s order against the Kleins not only unprecedented but unconstitutional.
“The gag order demonstrates that this assault on our most essential freedoms will not stop with the free exercise of our religion. It has quickly become a threat to the freedom of speech as well.”
“A government capable of bankrupting and silencing people for standing by their deepest beliefs is a government of unbridled power and a threat to everyone’s freedom,” concluded Perkins.
This is why Perkins and thousands of Christians across the nation are getting behind the First Amendment Defense Act which is currently pending in Congress. It will prohibit the federal government from discriminating against individuals and organizations based upon their religious beliefs or moral convictions that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.
Click here to contact your representatives about the First Amendment Protection Act today!
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