Gay Community Comes To The Aid Of Anti-Gay Bakery Owners
In a surprising turn of events, a gay rights activist and members of the LGBT community are contributing funds to help a couple who was fined more than $150,000 for violating the civil rights of a gay couple last year.
Matt Stolhandske, a gay rights activist, started the rally.org This Is Love donation page, in order to help the owners of Sweet Cakes bakery, Melissa and Aaron Klein. Stohandske, who is gay, is also a board member for the non-profit organization Evangelicals for Marriage Equality.
A year ago, the Kleins drew national attention for their refusal to take an order for a wedding cake which was to be served at a same sex marriage ceremony. The couple who ordered the cake, Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman, say that Aaron Klein said they were “an abomination to the Lord.” They filed a complaint against the bakery with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry, who recently ruled that there was “serious evidence that the couple broke the law by refusing to bake the cake.” The state ordered them to pay a fine that totals more than $150,000.
The Kleins, who originally said they would rather close down their business than be forced to bake cakes for gay people, blamed everyone else when their business did close. In addition to stating that they’d prefer to close their business than have to follow the state’s anti-discrimination laws, Aaron Klein also said:
I’d rather have my kids see their dad stand up for what he believes in than to see him bow down because one person complained.
But then, after lots and lots of other people also complained, Klein blamed “the gay agenda.” The couple went on TV to describe the devastating experience of having to endure other people complaining about being discriminated against.
In late September, after the ruling, Melissa Klein posted the following comment to her Facebook page:
“Our culture has accepted 2 huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. Second is that to love someone means that you must agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” — Rick Warren
Let’s be clear, no-one asked this couple to agree with anything. What was asked (and what is required by law) is that the Kleins provide the same services to people they ‘disagree with,’ that they would provide to anyone else. Unfortunately, the lie they’ve accepted is that if you ‘disagree’ with someone, you have the right to treat them however you want. That lie has nothing to do with love or compassion, as the quote above tries to make it appear, but the response from some members of the LGBT community is a different story.
Instead of rubbing salt in their wounds, Stolhandske decided to take a different approach.
“We strongly disapprove of the Kleins’ discriminatory act towards the women who simply requested a cake for their reception,” Stolhandske says on rally.org This Is Love fundraising page: “but we are raising money to demonstrate to the Kleins what love looks like in the face of discrimination.”
He goes on to describe the goal of the fundraiser:
We want to begin a conversation with the Kleins and Christians around the country. We want to ask them to begin to use the posture of Jesus Christ as it pertains to the civil rights of gay Americans. Even if you disagree with gay RELIGIOUS marriage, please see that Jesus did not ask His followers to take his words, convert them into laws, and then force everyone to abide by them; that is the opposite of the way in which He asked us to share His message of hope and salvation.
In an October 17th article published by the Washington Post, Stolhandske describes his personal experience with anti-gay Christians.
To be a gay Evangelical is to live what some may view as a paradox. I grew up in a loving, supportive Christian home and my faith eventually led me to a conservative Presbyterian seminary. I was yearning to study my faith more fully, but I was also deeply burdened by my same-sex attraction.
I believed it to be evil – the most revolting and ****ing of all sins. Looking back on those dark days, I now see the hate I had for myself. I was also secretly angry at everyone in the church who had tried to lead me to believe that something so fundamental to me was disgusting and wrong.
It wasn’t until I stepped away from the church, albeit briefly, that I was I able to find love and forgiveness for myself and the true heart of the Christian gospel; the love of a Father so stubbornly refusing to condemn that He would send His Son to die in my place. And that gospel has so deeply permeated my soul that I cannot find it in myself to hate the Kleins.
In the face of intolerance, I am yet called to love.
