Oregon Baker Fined $135,000 for Refusing to Make Cake for Lesbian Wedding, Resulting in “Mental Rape” of Couple
An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000.
“[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order.
. . . .
In order to reach $135,000, Rachel and Laurel submitted a long list of alleged physical, emotional and mental damages they claim to have experienced as a result of the Kleins’ unlawful conduct.
One of the women, whose name was redacted to protect her privacy, listed 88 symptoms as grounds for compensation. The other, whose name was also redacted, listed 90.
Examples of symptoms include “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”
I’m surprised these people are able to tie their own shoes in the morning.
My advice: next time, instead of gaining a lot of weight, resuming your smoking habit, and comparing one business owner’s refusal of your business to rape, maybe just choose a different baker.
Although why anyone would take my advice when the state is willing to help them cash in based on obviously exaggerated and trumped-up damages, I have no idea.
Tear it all down and start over.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/26/2015 @ 12:54 pmPatterico–
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/04/26/gofundme-yanks-sweet-cakes-bakery-campaign/
elissa (d83127) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:02 pm“acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”
Oh good grief, with the exception of feeling “mentally raped, dirty and shameful” and picking up the smokes again, most women experience these symptoms on a regular, monthly basis. Perhaps we should all be filing lawsuits! Against who, I’m not sure, but I bet there’s a man somewhere to blame because there always is, right?
Dana (86e864) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:07 pmHere are the Rutles being shocked and stunned. This one’s for you Colonel.
Gazzer (a3547c) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:18 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgttPt_1IG0
how does this couple even imagine that they can be a union?
seeRpea (8fa79e) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:29 pmThis is going to be one long writ for divorce.
this is crappy journalism made out of crap
wtf is a “recommended” fine?
happyfeet (831175) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:44 pmand htf do you start smoking AND gain weight? Is that some kind of devious lesbo trick?
happyfeet (831175) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:45 pmWHERE ARE MY DRAGONS
happyfeet (831175) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:46 pmWhen I can’t have cake I get sad too.
Dustin (2a8be7) — 4/26/2015 @ 1:54 pmthe clerk whose job it was to vet this, was blinded by Daenerys’s dragons, and was hence put out of his misery,
narciso (ee1f88) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:09 pmThey say they experience both “loss of appetite” and “weight gain”. Absurd on its face.
Chuck Bartowski (11fb31) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:09 pmWhy would anyone want their wedding cake made by someone who doesn’t want to make it? Aren’t they afraid the flavor would be off?
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:13 pmAn Oregon administrative law judge
I bet you he’s the type of idiot who’d also do back flips to protect the rights of Islamic fanatics, which is why if such members of this society do end up the ultimate victims of Sharia-ism encroaching throughout the West, they’ll have only themselves to blame.
Mark (607f93) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:15 pm“Perhaps we should all be filing lawsuits!”
Dana – Looks like it’s cheaper than buying lottery tickets.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:16 pmyou are not of the body, daley, the very notion indicates this is crimethink,
narciso (ee1f88) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:18 pmBigots like this used to refuse to cater inter-racial weddings saying it was against their religion till the courts fined them to stop it.
anti-bigots (c8c7c0) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:19 pmwonder how much of a tax bite there will be?
PeterK (3e1527) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:19 pmWhen Hillary becomes president she’s going to force everybody to get rid of those nasty religious beliefs, well maybe not the Muslims, because everybody is scared of them.
The White House will sell shreds of the Constitution under President Queen Pro Quo.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:21 pmPortlandia!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:24 pm==The White House will sell shreds of the Constitution under President Queen Pro Quo.==
Well yeah. That’s a whole lot more efficient in raising cash from “donors” than selling single nights in the Lincoln bedroom, daley!
elissa (6df047) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:28 pmColonel, check out my post at #4
Gazzer (a3547c) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:32 pmwhat about the counter-balancing list of symptoms, which I have no doubt they also have (symptoms) – among which, I just bet, would be things like “glee, laughter, feelings fade of superiority, happiness at having more money, drunkeness from over-indulging in the champagne…”
Bh (10d109) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:33 pmWhy would anyone want their wedding cake made by someone who doesn’t want to make it?
Similarly, I wonder what type of people would want to attend a function hosted by such extremist customers? The two women probably are obnoxious leftwing types, perhaps even stereotypical unpleasant “bull dykes” who run around with the rainbow flag unfurled and flying, and will be divorced from each other in a number of years.
Mark (607f93) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:39 pmThat’s a great one, Gazzer! I’d like to get that on DVD.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/26/2015 @ 2:42 pmI have it and it is a very well written film especially if you are familiar with Beatles history and lore. A great parody. Right up there with Spinal Tap.
Gazzer (a3547c) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:25 pmWhy not just make a really shi**y cake?
Capitalist Infidel (20d716) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:39 pmGreetings:
Back in the mid-70s, I had a temporary job adjudicating worker’s compensation claims for the Federal government. One of the ways the honest doctors telegraphed their suspicions about phony claims was to refer to “subjective reports of pain”.
But times do change now don’t they. When they’re not fundamentally transforming that is.
11B40 (0f96be) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:43 pmWeight gain? Moar cake!
SarahW (6f3980) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:46 pm3 %ers get it baked
mg (31009b) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:53 pmOne bridezilla per wedding is too many. Two of them plus an evil judge for hire is right out..
papertiger (c2d6da) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:56 pmWhy would anyone want their wedding cake made by someone who doesn’t want to make it? Aren’t they afraid the flavor would be off?
They were targeted of course.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:58 pmIf they keep pushing as hard as they are, this thing is gonna break.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/26/2015 @ 3:59 pmBigots like this used to refuse to cater inter-racial weddings saying it was against their religion till the courts fined them to stop it.
Anti-bigot, I’d love to see your examples. I think you are full of shit.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/26/2015 @ 4:03 pmI certainly hope that Roberts and Kennedy look at this and decide that establishing SSM opens up too many cans of worms, and I hope the opinion says so.
Really that would be the best argument against a federal 14th Amendment “right” — that it cuts too deeply into the established practices of society to be imposed by mere judges.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/26/2015 @ 4:03 pmThis judicial nonsense needed to be nullified. I suggest emailing melissa@sweetcakesweb.com requesting a way to donate directly since GoFundMe has buckled under to pressure from all the special little snowflakes that countenance this sort of religious bigotry.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 4/26/2015 @ 5:12 pmWell these ladies are in to licking. And I stepped in something on the sidewalk, and as far as I’m concerned, I have a job for them. Lick the soles of my shoes.
Comanche Voter (1d5c8b) — 4/26/2015 @ 5:52 pmThe Daily Mail says that one of the brides came to this bakery for a cake because she had bought a cake there for her mother’s wedding. The bakery used that fact to support its claim that it doesn’t discriminate against gays. The gay couple and, apparently, the court viewed that as evidence the bakery does discriminate — because it would decorate and sell a cake for a straight wedding but not for a gay wedding.
I guess it’s hard for some liberals to view this as persecution of Christians, perhaps because Christians have been in the majority in the past. It’s similar to the attitude liberals have toward white men like the Columbia “rape mattress” student — that they can’t be the victims of discrimination — also because white men have not been in the minority. But if these were any other groups of people, I think liberals would be much more concerned about their rights.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/26/2015 @ 6:25 pmThe Supreme Court should look at all of this and decide that the time is not right. Clearly society is divided on the subject and it is something that needs to be wrung out in the normal political process.
The level of bullying, lawfare and vigilantism attempting to force everyone to submit, overriding all other freedoms, belies the claims of SSM proponents that the matter is settled. The Court should decline to empower such behavior, and suggest they should come back when they’re prepared to act like adults.
In short, give them a “time out.”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/26/2015 @ 6:34 pmI think the conservatives on the Supreme Court will be reluctant and/or refuse to take any of this into consideration. The role of the courts is to decide the law, not participate in politics. It’s up to the legislatures/Congress to write laws and the courts to interpret them. Unfortunately, this is hard to do with issues like religion, as well as liberal topics like abortion, sexual reproduction, etc.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/26/2015 @ 6:51 pmI guess it’s hard for some liberals to view this as persecution of Christians
What goes around, comes around.
The US and the Western World in general are returning to a pagan way of life, with all the forms of corruption (socio-economic) thereof—and, oddly enough, with Sharia-ism waiting in the wings.
Lucky us.
Mark (607f93) — 4/26/2015 @ 7:37 pmExcept unlike “abortion, sexual reproduction, etc…”, free exercise of religion is in the constitution.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 4/26/2015 @ 8:58 pmBut they’ll never act like adults, as the point of SSM is to empower themselves to act this way. Feminism works the same way. There is no end to the increasingly insane demands they can make, no logical stopping point.
Steve57 (08cad4) — 4/26/2015 @ 8:58 pmmuch as we may disagree about the issue, the plurality of people in the USA think that no exemption from providing wedding items should be allowed on religious grounds (well , at least Christian religion. I don’t think the polls questions say generic religious) so it is not going to be a ground swell of public support to turn the tide.
I wonder if it would pass legal muster for such places to put up a sign that they will only provide for weddings that are officiated by certain churches/synagogues/mosques/what-have-you ?
seeRpea (8fa79e) — 4/26/2015 @ 9:32 pmre #40, I think that is a good way of putting it. Society is not just going down the drain, it is returning to paganism.
seeRpea (8fa79e) — 4/26/2015 @ 9:33 pmJudge needs to be run out on a rail.
This is going to get ugly soon if the left doesn’t back off. How long do they expect to keep trying to destroy people’s lives before people start to fight back?
NJRob (d36337) — 4/26/2015 @ 11:03 pmAnd a vast majority less than 10 years ago said marriage was between a man and a woman. Shaming works. Attacking people works. Caring about something and threatening those that don’t care works.
P.S. The Constitution is not a popularity contest.
NJRob (d36337) — 4/26/2015 @ 11:05 pmUnfortunately, the prevailing winds preclude just nuking Oregon to get it over with.
We’ll just have to hope they tumble into the sea with San Francisco, and soon.
Estragon (ada867) — 4/27/2015 @ 3:12 amoregon is where louis and clark went on their big road trip
they had many adventures
happyfeet (831175) — 4/27/2015 @ 3:23 amlewis?
happyfeet (831175) — 4/27/2015 @ 3:24 amOnce again we see that some lifestyles are inherently totalitarian.
ErisGuy (76f8a7) — 4/27/2015 @ 4:16 amthe plurality of people in the USA think that no exemption from providing wedding items should be allowed on religious grounds
By religious grounds, one means first amendment. A majority of people usually wish to suspend someone’s human rights.
ErisGuy (76f8a7) — 4/27/2015 @ 4:18 amBigots like this used to refuse to cater inter-racial weddings saying it was against their religion till the courts fined them to stop it.
And courts were wrong then to..
ErisGuy (76f8a7) — 4/27/2015 @ 4:19 amTwo centuries ago Oregon was big in the fur trade. Looks like the market is picking up again
Gordon Pasha (e67fc8) — 4/27/2015 @ 4:54 amWhen people have been oppressed, suppressed, repressed and depressed by evil Christian fundies their whole lives…and seek an evil Christian fundie to do their wedding, the smell test becomes redundant.
Richard Aubrey (ebf6de) — 4/27/2015 @ 4:54 amAmong other things, isn’t there a gay baker/florist/photographer who could use the business?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416421/church-left-yuval-levin
It was very astute of Mark to say we are in a sense returning to paganism. Ancient Rome had its state religion. And you could worship any god in the state approved pantheon, but you had to worship the Emperor like a god. That was the main beef the Romans had with Christians, and it’s still the main problem the pagans have with Christians.
Steve57 (08cad4) — 4/27/2015 @ 5:40 amTammy,
The Court has interpreted the 14th Amendment to provide a right to privacy when it comes to personal matters like abortion, sexual freedom, etc.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/27/2015 @ 6:04 amSorry, that should have said Tanny, not Tammy.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/27/2015 @ 6:05 amand if you got that cake go on and bake it guuurll!
shake that cakey booty!
happyfeet (a037ad) — 4/27/2015 @ 6:06 amDRJ @56, that just shows there’s something very, very wrong with our courts today. The people who passed the 14th Amendment thought they were protecting a right to privacy that guaranteed sexual freedom?
Funny they never had a problem with sodomy laws, if that’s the case.
Steve57 (08cad4) — 4/27/2015 @ 6:30 amHey, nice way to start a marriage: some right wing conservative Christian’s head on a pike!
Of course, the offending bakery had its name plastered all over the media. Just in case someone wanted to protest or, say, burn it down.
Patricia (5fc097) — 4/27/2015 @ 7:44 amLewis was there, too.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/27/2015 @ 8:12 amPerhaps the bakers should say: We make cakes for all weddings, but all our wedding cakes have a bride and groom on the top. If that doesn’t suit you, feel free to change it.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/27/2015 @ 8:14 amJust in case someone wanted to protest or, say, burn it down.
That’s kinda how Jim Crow worked.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/27/2015 @ 8:15 amhttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/417540/freedom-conscience-wins-round-david-french
Yet despite knowing that what this company was doing is standard practice, the Human Rights Commission tried to force them to do it anyway.
This isn’t about “treating everyone the same.” It’s a about the state establishing a religion, and forcing people to participate in the rites.
Steve57 (08cad4) — 4/27/2015 @ 11:23 amBased on their symptoms, they are a couple of overweight, unhealthy chain-smoking lesbians. I’d want my name redacted too.
Georganne (e37667) — 4/28/2015 @ 7:32 amreversal of Alinsky effect?
seeRpea (49f72d) — 4/30/2015 @ 6:45 amhttp://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/04/27/making-the-trolls-pay-how-one-uk-company-made-1-million-in-four-days-from-furious-social-justice-warriors/