Sweet Cakes is a small bakery in Gresham, Ore. that is currently under state investigation after he refused to make a wedding cake for a same sex couple that have been long time patrons of the store. On Feb. 1 KATU reports that Aaron Klein, the owner of the bakery also reportedly told the couple that he thought they were an abomination, however, now he denies saying so.
The question that now comes into play is whether or not he broke the law. In 2007 Oregon passed The Oregon Equality Act of 2007 which prohibits discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation and gender beliefs.The law also includes public entities such as businesses. Klein says that he doesn't care if he has to pay a fine, he doesn't believe in same sex marriage or homosexuality.
Klein says that he told the bride-to-be that came to pick up the cake;
“I apologized for wasting their time and said we don’t do same-sex marriages,” he said. I “honestly did not mean to hurt anybody, didn't mean to make anybody upset, (it’s) just something I believe in very strongly.”
Klein says that he feels that his religious beliefs outweigh his income and state law. Unfortunately for Aaron Klein, religious beliefs don't trump equality laws, however, he does have a constitutional right to his beliefs and there have been cases and exceptions for for religious beliefs which have outweighed state law such as in the case of vaccinations before children begin school. It looks as if the only way for this to be decided is by a judge, where this case will, indeed, end up.
Do you think that Aaron Klein broke the law?
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