Bigot Baker Closes Up Shop

I’ve written about Sweet Cakes by Melissa before — HERE and HERE — that bakery out in Gresham, Oregon that refused to bake a wedding cake when they found out it was a lesbian wedding. They said it was against their religion, but it was also against the law for them to refuse to bake the cake because Oregon has very clear anti-discrimination laws and one of those groups you cannot discriminate against when you operate a public business is The Gays.

So there were news stories — like the undercover reporter who called Sweet Cakes and requested cakes for, among other things, a Pagan Solstice Party, a Stem-Cell Research Party, a Divorce Celebration, and an Unwed Mother Baby Shower cake: all those folks could get cakes, and Aaron Klein, Sweet Cakes owner, would happily make them, but he refused to bake for The Gays.

Well, now the good news: Sweet Cakes by Melissa is closing their doors.

Yippity-freaking-do.

According to the Sweet Cakes Facebook page they are taking their business out of their storefront and moving it into their home because, well, business if off and they can’t afford their shop any longer.

Again … Yippity-freaking-do.

But the owners of Sweet Cakes are still insisting that they are just good religious folks and they’re the persecuted party because they cannot practice their “bigotry masked as religion” in Oregon without facing investigations and fines from the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Well, I got news for you, Sweet Cakes, you aren’t the victim here. You can be as religious as you want, all you want, wherever you want, but you cannot use your religion to deny goods and services from your publicly-operated business to any group, including The Gays.

No one asked you to endorse a same-sex wedding, attend a same-sex wedding, or even buy a gift for a same-sex wedding. You were asked to bake a cake, for which you would have been paid, for a same-sex wedding, and baking a cake is not an endorsement of anything to which your religion finds offense.

It’s baking, for Christ’s sake … pun intended.

So, goodbye Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Take your slowly dying business home, but please be aware that if you are still operating a business in the state of Oregon and still discriminating against The Gays, you are still breaking the law.

Funny though, had you baked the cake you might have found your business increasing and rather than shutting down, you might have been able to expand because The Gays love a good cake.

Especially on their wedding day.

source

Read More

Hypocrite Bakers: Sweet Cakes by Melissa and Fleur Cakes

Once again, before I rant, let me preface this post by saying that I begrudge no one their religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs. I do, however, have a problem with those people who try to use their ‘faith’ as an excuse to deny me equality, to deny me my rights, and, well, to deny me cake.

Aaron Klein [top]
Pam Regentin [bottom]

We’ve all heard the story of the bakeries in Oregon that have refused to bake wedding cakes for same-sex nuptials. The first was Sweet Cakes by Melissa, which actually left a bad taste in my mouth last February when Aaron Klein, the owner, told a lesbian couple, “we don’t so same-sex marriages.”

My first thought was, ‘No one asked you to do a same-sex marriage, they asked you to do what you advertise and bake a cake.

Then we had Pam Regentin who owns Fleur Cakes who also told a lesbian couple that she doesn’t bake for The Gays because of her, um, ‘beliefs’.

Both Klein and Regentin cited their religious beliefs as the reason they don’t bake for The Gays and their weddings, and both Klein and Regentin called themselves Christians.

Don’t get me started on that part. I mean, I haven’t personally met Mr. Christ, but from what I understand he never uttered a word about The Gays and was really better known for saying things like “love your neighbor as yourself.”

But these so-called ‘Christians’ set that aside, and instead base their bigotry on Leviticus, which purportedly condemns homosexuality, while it also condemns tattoos—uh oh, for me—and eating rabbit, wearing clothes of mixed fabrics, or even cutting ones hair. But, Klein and Regentin probably don’t have a problem with those things, among other condemnations in Leviticus, they just single out the passages about The Gays.

In fact, Pam Regentin, when asked about her refusal to bake those cakes, said, “I believe I have the liberty to live by my principles.”

Live by your principles? Yes. Operate a business in the state of Oregon by your principles? Maybe not so much.  Oregon statute makes it illegal for businesses to turn away customers based on race, religion or sexual orientation, i.e. being one of The Gays.

But this post isn’t about that topic, you know, turning away The Gays, it’s about other cakes that these Bigot Bakeries bake.

Recently, five reporters from Willamette Weekly [the source for this post, read it HERE]  called both Sweet Cakes and Fleur Cakes to get prices for a variety of other special occasion cakes; occasions that many so-called ‘Christians’ also frown upon.

Not quite so surprisingly, both bakeries willingly agreed to bake cakes for a divorce celebration, for unmarried parents, for stem-cell research, and even pagan solstice parties. But not a cake that celebrates the marriage of same-sex couples.

After making these calls, and getting the pricing of these cakes, the Willamette Weekly then called both bakeries back to ask them why they’d celebrate a divorce, of unwed mothers, but not a same –sex wedding.

Fleur Cakes owner Pam Regentin refused to comment, though she did ask if the original call had been recorded; it had not.

Sweet Cakes owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were angry that the paper “would even try to entrap a business”.

Here are the transcripts of those phone calls:

Baby Out of Wedlock

WW Asks - I’m shopping around for a nice baby shower cake for my friend. It’s her second baby with her boyfriend so I’m not looking for anything too big or fancy—probably enough to serve 15 to 20 people.

Sweet Cake says - “We have a sheet cake that will feed 30, or a 10-inch cake that would feed 30 people. The 10-inch cake is $50 and the sheet cake is $52. Or we have an 8-inch cake that would feed 15 for $40.”

Fleur says - Prices vary based on decoration and frosting, but a basic cake is $3 per serving.

Divorce Party

WW Asks - My friend is getting divorced and we’d like to throw her a little party to mark the start of her new life. Do you ever write messages on those—we’d want it to say “congratulations!”—and how much would it be for a cake that could serve about eight people?

Sweet Cake says - “A 10-inch is $29.99. That should probably do it....We can definitely do something like that.”

Fleur says - “The price for a 10-inch cheesecake is $36 and up. So it’ll be between $36 and $45, but you’re going to have to call in advance because my schedule for June and July is very busy.”

Stem-Cell Success

WW Asks - I was wondering if you could do two little cakes. My friend is a researcher at OHSU and she just got a grant for cloning human stem cells, so I thought I’d get her two identical cakes—basically, two little clone cakes. How much would they cost?

Sweet Cake says - “Ha. All right. When are you looking to do it? It’ll be $25.99 each, so about $50 to start.”

Fleur says - Did not pick up phone or return messages. Acknowledged receiving requests by email but refused to comment.

Non-Kosher Barbecue

WW Asks - I’m looking to get a special cake for a barbecue we’re having next week. Our cow just died of old age and we’re planning to grill some steaks along with lobster and pulled-pork sandwiches—what size would we need for 10 people and how much would it be?

Sweet Cake says - “A 6-inch cake serves about eight to 10 people at $25.99. The apple goes really good with pork, and the caramel will complement the lobster. For a barbecue, it’s all really good.”

Fleur says - Did not pick up phone or return messages. Acknowledged receiving requests by email but refused to comment.

Pagan Solstice Party

WW Asks - I was calling to get a quote on a cake for a midsummer solstice party. My coven is celebrating on Friday, June 21. The decoration would be very simple: just a green pentagram. We’d like to pick it up sometime that afternoon, before the bonfire. It’ll be for about 30 people.

Sweet Cake says - “For 30 people we have a couple options... We have two kind of cakes you could have. About the diagram you want on the cake, I’m not sure how much extra that would be.”

Fleur says - Did not pick up phone or return messages. Acknowledged receiving requests by email but refused to comment.

So, while these two ‘Christian’ bakers found something repellent about making a cake to serve lesbians at a wedding, the idea of divorce, and stem cells, and unwed mothers and pagan rituals, didn’t seem to cause a blip on their Christian radar.

Makes one think that their refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding had less to do with religion and more to do with being homophobes. And, apparently, liars.

Now, again, I don’t begrudge them their faith; I begrudge them using their faith to mask their bigotry. And, all I ask is that, if you own and operate your own business and there is any segment of the population that you won’t service because of some belief system you have, please announce it in your ads, on your website, at your door.

No Jews.

No Blacks.

No Hispanics.

No Gays.

No fill in the blank

Then we’d all know.

Read More

Aaron Klein Wants You To Know He Doesn't Hate The Gays But He Will Never Bake You A Wedding Cake

Well, Aaron Klein, owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, really stepped in it. In fact, Aaron is being investigated by the Oregon Department of Justice over a complaint that he refused to make a wedding cake for a same sex marriage. 

It all began the day a bride and her mother went to the bakery to look at cakes, so let's have Aaron give us the details:

"My first question is what's the wedding date," Aaron Klein said. "My next question is bride and groom's name ... the girl giggled a little bit and said it's two brides."

Uh oh. Aaron then politely apologized and told the women that both he and his wife do not make cakes for lesbians; at least, lesbians who are getting married. Klein said the women were disgusted and walked out.

Ya think?

Aaron says he believes "marriage is a religious institution ordained by God."

No, Aaron, marriage is a civil institution legalized by the state; it may also be a religious ceremony, but a marriage isn't a legally recognized institution without the input and approval of the state. Now, marriages can be religious, but they can't be valid until the state says so.

"A man should leave his mother and father and cling to his wife ... that to me is the beginning of marriage."

Or, is that a line from a folk song?

The two women, on the advice of their attorney, are not speaking to the media, but they have plenty of support.  Numerous people have blasted the Klein's on the internet and so Aaron Klein would like to clear the air.

Go ahead, Aaron, I'm listening......

"They can buy my stuff," he says.  "I'll sell them stuff ... I'll talk to them, it's fine."

Um, but Aaron, perhaps I'm missing something here; these women wanted to buy some of, as you call it, your “stuff" and yet you refused. You said you sell your "stuff' to The Gays but then you refused. Now, as for that whole talking to The Gays bull shit, how fucking noble of you to deign to talk to The Gays.

Y'all do not know how hard I tried to refrain from swearing. Seriously. I tried.

Then, Aaron, bless his heart--as we say about ignorant people here in the South--said he will sell things and talk to us, but that since, in his small, tiny, possibly filled with nothing but cake flour brain, marriage is between a man and a woman, he will never bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.

"I'd rather have my kids see their dad stand up for what he believes in then to see him bow down because one person complained."

Funny, but your kids are the future and they are probably thinking what the hell is wrong with daddy.

Here's the deal: in Oregon there is a law that prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation, like bakeries that refuse to serve The Gays. Aaron Klein and his wife have two weeks to respond to the Oregon Department of Justice's inquiry into what happened. 

Until then Aaron, why don't you make a little sign for your window that says "No Gays" or "Straights Only" so that The Gays, and the Straight People Who Stand Up For The Gays, and the Straight People Who Fight Discrimination can use a different bakery altogether, because, Aaron, no one, no one, was asking for your blessing on a same -sex marriage, they were simply asking for a cake.

source

Read More