HALF-BAKED

Homophobic Bakers In Oregon Are Back, Now Serving “Ex-Gay” Cakes Out Of Their Home

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Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa

Here we go again. The owners of the bakery in Gresham, Oregon that refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple last year are back. This time, they’re serving up “ex-gay” cakes.

The last we heard from Sweet Cakes by Melissa was in a hastily handwritten note taped to the store’s front door that read:

This fight is not over. We will continue to stand strong. Your Religious Freedom is becoming not Free anymore. This is ridiculous that we can not practice our faith. The LORD is good and we will continue to serve Him with all our heart.

The bakery closed its doors last September after being exposed for denying a wedding cake to a lesbian couple and calling them an “abomination unto the Lord.”

The women filed a complaint with the Bureau of Labor and Industries, which launched an investigation to determine if the owners of the bakery, husband and wife Aaron and Melissa Klein, had indeed violated the law. It was determined that, under Oregon’s Equality Act of 2007, people cannot be denied service by a private business based on their sexual orientation.

As a result, the Kleins said they were victims of the “gaystapo.” They also claimed that all the bad PR had caused them to lose more than 50% of their business, which forced them to move the store back into their home where they had originally started it.

Whomp, whomp.

“It isn’t easy to take a stand sometimes,” the Kleins wrote on their Facebook page. “Sometimes it’s a little scary but God will carry you through and be with you every step of the way.”

Screen shot 2014-07-30 at 9.21.45 AMBut, as promised in their note back in September, the fight is not over.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa recently posted a photo to Facebook of cakes baked for the Restored Hope Network, a conservative group that encourages LGBT individuals to pray the gay away. The photos were accompanied by the caption: “What a wonderful ministry!”

The Restored Hope Network works to pair people with “unwanted” same-sex attraction to a network of Christian counselors who can “cure” them. The organization’s executive director Anne Paulk, claims to be an “ex-lesbian” and has been a vocal advocate for gay reparative therapy for years, despite the fact that her former “ex-gay” husband re-came out as gay earlier this year.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa’s Facebook post has received more than 300 “likes” and 160 comments, though most of the comments have been critical of the bakery.

“You may believe what you wish, but when you discriminate against people based on creed, color or sexual orientation, you are a bigot,” one person wrote.

“Ex gays are still gays, so you guys are basically serving gays,” another person commented.

The case between the lesbian couple and Sweet Cakes by Melissa is still ongoing. Unless a settlement between the two parties can be reached, a hearing is scheduled for October.

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