Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian was defeated by Republican Dennis Richardson in his bid to be Secretary of State.Avakian launched a very public and very ugly assault on the Klein family, alleging they had discriminated about the lesbian couple.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, declined to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple’s ceremony.
The Kleins, who are devout Christians, explained that participating in a same-sex wedding would violate their deeply-held religious beliefs.
They faced boycotts and picket lines, other wedding vendors were strong armed, their children received death threats all for doing business with Sweet Cakes. Mr. Avakian is quite the progressive.
In an act that can only be described as unAmerican, Commissioner Avakian imposed a gag order denying the Kleins full rights to speak freely about their case. When did the labor commissioner of the state of Oregon get the power to decide a citizens’ First Amendment rights? This is a major violation of his powers and his oath to uphold the Constitution.
“Progressive Oregonians” pride themselves of being leaders in social justice, but this even seems a bit much for voters to swallow. To think a Republican was elected for the first time since 2002 truly says a lot.
I do not think the Klein’s will recover from this blackmailing politician, but at least we know now it won’t happen again.
What do you think?