Does Freedom of Choice Not Apply to Conservatives?
“Conservatives want to take away another person’s right to choose.”
How many times, over and over again and again, have we heard that from the Left?
And yet Leftists are silent as Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, have been denied their freedom of choice. They chose not to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer. As a result, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian finalized a preliminary ruling ordering the Kleins to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they denied service.
Let us stop here and imagine this…They want us to believe that two adults suffered $135,000 in “emotional damages” simply because another adult told them “No” about baking a cake. Seriously? Want to talk about suffering damages? The Kleins have closed their business because of this hideous event. This is their livelihood; how’s that for suffering damages?
But wait, there’s more. After Mr. and Mrs. Klein dared to express in an interview that “the fight is not over,” Commissioner Avakian ordered the couple to “cease and desist” from speaking publicly about their refusal to bake the cake–which they did, by the way, based on their Christian beliefs. In doing so, Avakian has effectively taken away the Klein’s First Amendment rights– their freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
Where does this end? If my animal groomer refuses to shave my cat in a poodle cut, shall I sue him? My grandson wanted a donut this afternoon; I told him No. Is he emotionally damaged? Will the State sue me on his behalf? I learned in elementary school that my rights end where another’s rights begin.
The lesbian couple has a legal right to choose how they will live; why do not the Kleins have the right to choose for whom they will bake?
