Fundraising Effort For Anti-Gay Bakery Breaks Records

[DonViejo]

After Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein turned away a lesbian couple who sought a wedding cake, a judge ordered the couple to pay $135,000 for violating their state's anti-discrimination laws. The Kleins complained that the amount would ruin them financially.

Now, however, that may no longer be the case: Politico reports that a record-breaking $352,500 has been raised for the Sweet Cakes by Melissa owners via an online fundraising campaign. Jesse Wellhoefer, who is the founder of Continue to Give, which hosted the campaign for Sweet Cakes, told the Washington Times that the effort set a sitewide record for the highest amount raised by any single campaign in the crowdfunding website's three-year history.

Wellhoefer acknowledged that his site, which has served churches and missionaries as well as other non-profit organizations, had received numerous complaints about the nature of the Sweet Cakes by Melissa fundraising campaign. Still, his support for the beleaguered bakery was firm.

"Lots of people have been asking us to take it off," he told the publication. "Our response has been, 'Thank you for your concern, have a great day and God bless you.'"

more
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sweet-cakes-by-melissa-raises-over-352000-after-anti-gay-discrimination-ruling_55a946fae4b0d2ded39ee44e?

[TlalocW]

1. And the guy

Who had a Draw Mohammed contest outside a mosque then tried to grift off his fellow conservatives by asking them to raise $10 million so he could protect his family against non-existent threats is probably really pissed off now (he raised $300).

TlalocW

[RussBLib]

4. I guess he should have hated on the gays and not the Muslims

so, I guess there are more gay-haters around than Muslim-haters? Seems logical.

[dem in texas]

2. Saw this article on HuffPO and it is so Wrong

They were not fined for refusing to bake a wedding cake for gay couple. They were fined for posting the couples name and home address on Facebook which resulted in the couple being harassed. They were fined because they violated the couple's privacy.

[Yo_Mama]

3. That's completely untrue - they were fined for refusing to provide the cake

What they posted was the first page of the official complaint document, which is a public record. You cannot be fined for posting public information, and they were not. It was on Facebook, and was promptly removed.

Here is the actual legal document - about 120 pages:
http://www.oregon.gov/boli/Legal/BOLI%20Final%20Orders%20issued%20in%202015/Sweet_Cakes_44-14_and_45-14.pdf

On page 27 and 28:
"The commissioner concludes that, through the communications described above, AK and MK both violated ORS 659A.409. However, the Commissioner awards no damages to Complainants based on Respondents unlawful practice because there is no evidence in the record that Complainants experienced any mental, emotional or physical suffering because of it."

"Communications described above" refers to a note posted on the window of the bakery after it was closed down and two interviews containing language such as "stand firm".

Then on page 40, which is too much for me to type:
A) The Agency asked for $75,000 in damages for each person in the couple ($150,000 in total) for denial of service. The Agency also asked for additional damages relating to the media attention.

B) No additional award for media exposure is given:
"The Commissioner concludes that the Complainants' emotional harm related to the denial of service continued throughout the period of media attention and that the facts related solely to emotional harm resulting from media attention do not adequately support an award of damages."

The final award was $75,000 to the one present when the wedding cake was refused, and $60,000 for the other.

[kelliekat44]

5. An easy way to sucker the stupid out of money. nt