by
A few years ago, the Christian owners of a bakery in Oregon were the focus of a massive national debate after declining to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. Because of the efforts of one man, the couple was unfairly forced to pay a massive fine and close their store. As it turns out, the story didn’t end there, and now, the couple is finally starting to see some sweet justice.
A massive uproar over the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa declining to take part in a gay wedding ceremony by making a lesbian couple’s cake took America by storm in 2013. The Christian owners of the bakery, Aaron and Melissa Klein, were not in the practice of refusing service to gay customers but politely said that because of their religion they couldn’t actively participate in a gay wedding by providing a cake.
Rather than give their business to another bakery who didn’t have the same religious convictions, the lesbian couple decided to go after the Kleins with allegations that they were being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. The backlash against the Kleins came swift and hard. They were accused of being homophobic and bigoted, and the resulting uproar led to lawsuits and fines that eventually resulted in the Kleins being forced to close down their store.
The man who led the attack on the Christian couple is Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian. It wasn’t publicized at the time, but IJR tells us that Avakian had his own dog in the fight — his son is gay. That fact should have been disclosed as a possible reason for him stepping aside, but instead, he continued on what we now know was likely a personal vendetta. Eventually, Avakian’s bullying tactics resulted in the state of Oregon seizing the Kleins’ bank accounts to settle part of their $144,000 “fine” for declining to bake a cake. Thankfully, the Kleins were later able to pay the balance with donations before the interest charges got too out of hand.
It’s likely that Avakian viewed the judgment against the Kleins as a personal victory, but karma is never far away, and that was proven in Oregon’s state elections a week ago. Avakian ran against a Republican opponent for the position of Oregon’s Secretary of State and for the first time in 14 years, the Republican won that office.
Townhall gives an accurate explanation for why the historically Democratic state voted against Avakian:
Many conservative supporters of same-sex marriage have spoken out forcefully in defense of religious liberties and ideological coexistence in a free, pluralistic society. The power of the state being wielded to punish small businesses for refusing to actively participate in an event that explicitly violates the tenets of their faith (note that the bakery in question didn’t deny service to gay customers generally) strikes most Americans as an abusive application of government force. While there were several factors at play in this race, Mr. Avakian was a prominent poster child for aggressive progressive overreach in the culture wars — which many Democrats are starting to second guess as an overall approach to campaigning and governance.
Things are beginning to shift in America, and the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Even left-leaning voters in a deep blue state such as Oregon are weary of the progressive agenda being shoved down their throats. In their frantic rush to transform our country to fit their Marxist ideology, the liberals have instead managed to wake Americans up to the dangers of what that kind of society would look like.
Brad Avakian was refused the office of Oregon Secretary of State because the people watched what he did to the Kleins and knew how he would use that increased power to force his personal progressive beliefs and run over anyone who disagreed with him.
The Kleins still have a long road ahead of them and hope to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to defend religious liberty for all Americans. However, they can take a small amount of comfort now in knowing that Mr. Avakian was stopped from gaining even more power because they stood up for their Christian faith and people remembered. In this sad situation for the Kleins, a little bit of sweet justice has finally been served.
[h/t Townhall