An Oregon appeals court last month ruled against a Portland bakery that protested it was against the owners’ religion and right to artistic expression to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, according to the Huffington Post. Still pending: The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the case of a Colorado baker who maintains that his freedom of artistic expression would be violated if he were compelled to create a wedding cake for a gay couple:
An Oregon state appeals court on Thursday let stand $135,000 in damages levied against the owners of a Portland-area bakery for discrimination after they refused on religious grounds to prepare a wedding cake for a local lesbian couple. A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals rejected a petition by Melissa and Aaron Klein, former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, to overturn the ruling by the state’s labor commissioner as a violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution to freedom of religion and expression. An attorney for the Kleins, who closed their bakery not long after being ordered to pay the heavy fine, could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. “Today’s ruling sends a strong signal that Oregon remains open to all,” Brad Avakian, the state’s labor commissioner, said in a written statement. -- Huffington Post
