The Oregon bakery whose owners refused to make a wedding cake for
a lesbian couple has shuttered its doors.
Sweet Cakes by Melissa, located in Gresham, announced in a
Facebook post that it was closing: “This will be our last weekend
at the shop we are moving our business to an in home bakery [sic]. I
will post our new number soon.”
According
to Portland's KGW, Sweet Cakes was closed on Sunday. A sign
hanging in the window from the Christian conservative Oregon Family
Council read, “Religious freedom is under attack in Gresham.”
“This fight is not over,” another handwritten sign reads. “We
will continue to stand strong. Your Religious Freedom is becoming
not Free anymore. This is ridiculous that we can not [sic] practice
our faith. The LORD is good and we will continue to serve Him with
all our heart.”
The closure comes following a decision last month by the state
Bureau of Labor and Industries to investigate whether the cake shop
had violated the state's 2007 law prohibiting discrimination in
public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation.
Aaron Klein, who owns the shop with his wife Melissa Klein,
declined to make the cake for the women on January 17. Klein told
the women that they do not make cakes for gay weddings.
“I believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by
God,” Klein previously told King5. “A man should leave his
mother and father and cling to his wife … that to me is the
beginning of marriage.”
“They can buy my stuff,” Klein said in explaining that he does
not hate gays. “I'll sell them stuff … I'll talk to them, it's
fine.”
Melissa Klein denied the charges of discrimination.
“It's definitely not discrimination at all. We don't have
anything against lesbians or homosexuals,” she told The
Oregonian. “It has to do with our morals and beliefs.”
As of Tuesday, the
shop's Facebook page appeared to have been deleted. According to
alternative weekly Willamette
Week, comments expressing negative views of the owners had
been deleted over the weekend.