CAKE WALK

Baker Who Refused to Serve Lesbians Sees Penalty Cut After SCOTUS Ruling

The reduction in punishment came after a Supreme Court ruling on religious freedom.

A baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple has had his financial penalty drastically reduced, nearly a decade after the incident in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling. Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer filed a complaint in 2013 against Sweet Cakes by Melissa owners Melissa and Aaron Klein after they were refused service. A $135,000 fine was issued in 2015 and the Oregon Court of Appeals twice upheld a ruling that the bakery had discriminated against the couple. But after the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 in favor of a Colorado baker who had refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple on religious grounds, the Sweet Cakes case was ordered to be re-examined. Appellate judges this year ordered the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to re-examine the fine issued after finding that the bureau had “at least subtly” strayed from a legal obligation to be neutral to Aaron Klein’s religion. State Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle on Tuesday announced that the fine would be reduced to $30,000.