by Diane Robertson
Apparently in Oregon, hurt feelings have become a matter of politics and law. Or rather, the hurt feelings of people who have sexual relationships with other people of their same gender. If you’re just a regular person with regular hurt feelings and problems, Oregon law and legal processes won’t take care of your feelings. But if you have sex with members of your same gender then apparently Oregon wants to protect you from problems and hurt feelings. Though they probably can’t, because hurt feelings happen to be a choice. But you could get a lot of money and diabolical revenge from it.
That’s what Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer got from the Oregon law. They got revenge and a whole lot of money because they have sex together and someone dared hurt their feelings. Back in January of 2013, Oregon bakers, Aaron and Melissa Klein refused to bake a same sex wedding cake for these women. The Klien’s stated that participating in gay weddings went against their religious beliefs, and they refused to bake Bowman-Cryer’s gay wedding cake. This hurt Laurel and Rachel’s feelings. So they filed a complaint with Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.
Avakian cited a 2007 Oregon law that apparently is above the Constitution in the eyes of that state. The law protects the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people in employment, housing and public accommodations. Subsequently, the Klein’s lost their business, were fined $135,000, and were given a gag order in which they must “cease and desist from publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published … any communication to the effect that any of the accommodations … will be refused, withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any person on account of their sexual orientation.”
Not only does the Oregon government use hurt feelings, defined as “emotional suffering”, as a reason to destroy a family financially, deny them their religious freedom, but it also thinks it has the power to control what sort of speech and publications this family can make. Therefore making an important legal precedent which will likely deny all the people of Oregon their first amendment rights.
I bet no other business or person will refuse to do anything demanded by anyone who has sex with people of the same gender. Oregon did a great job of breeching the federal Constitution and setting up laws that could be used to establish a more fascist type government. And why? Because the state counts the feelings and beliefs of one group as superior to another. If people in Oregon were truly equal, the Kleins would be able to get large sums of money for the emotional suffering they have received from Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer and the State of Oregon.
Sadly, just a couple days ago, the Bureau of Labor and Industries reported that Aaron Klein dropped off a check for $136,927.07. That includes accrued interest. Klein also paid $7,000 earlier this month.