NB Would Like Oregon...

Liberty lovers, wake up and get serious about resisting the left-wingers, cultural marxists, social justice warriors

Left-wingers and progressives in America are becoming insufferable, are they not? It’s quite apparent that they have no desire to “live and let live,” but want to force their delusions off onto everyone else. You will live, think, and do as the Left tells you, whether you like it or not. Even in the pettiest of ways, they can’t help themselves.

Take, for example, this story coming out of the University of Oregon. To summarize for the reader, a student named Elle Mallon, who was running for office in student government filed a number of grievances against a rival student organization also running candidates in the recent election.

The grievances she claimed? First, that the rival group—We Are Oregon—had organized a campaign event in a building which did not have “gender inclusive bathrooms.” She successfully (!) managed to get the ASUO (Associated Students of the University of Oregon) Elections Board to sanction We Are Oregon for this transgression, causing that group to be forbidden to campaign for 36 hours. The campaign manager for We Are Oregon, a student named Taylor Allison emailed an apology (!) to Ms. Mallon.

Mallon then filed an addition grievance, claiming that Allison had “misgendered” her and charged her with sexual harassment. How so? Because Ms. Mallon has invented a whole set of pronouns—all her own—and demands that people address her using these pronouns (!). She wants people to use these entirely made-up words (“Mx” for “Ms.,” “xe, xhem, and hyr,” presumably for “he, it, and her” [?]) when referring to her or addressing things to her.

Because Allison referred to her as “Ms.” Mallon in the apology email, this was “sexual harassment” and grounds for additional sanctions.
Canada Free Press

An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000.

“[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order.

Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa located in Gresham, Ore., say the fine is enough to potentially bankrupt their family of seven.

The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron denied Rachel Cryer a wedding cake after learning there would be two brides in her wedding.

Aaron and his wife Melissa are both Christians and believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Rachel and her partner Laurel Bowman-Cryer, who are now married, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries under the state’s public accommodation law, which bans discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries pursued charges against the Kleins on behalf of the same-sex couple.

In January 2015, an investigation by the bureau found the Kleins guilty of violating the state’s public accommodation law by denying Rachel and Laurel full and equal access to their bakery, which the state considers a place of public accommodation.

The Civil Rights Division of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is responsible for enforcing the state’s public accommodation law, and the judge who issued today’s proposed order works for the bureau.

In order to reach $135,000, Rachel and Laurel submitted a long list of alleged physical, emotional and mental damages they claim to have experienced as a result of the Kleins’ unlawful conduct.

One of the women, whose name was redacted to protect her privacy, listed 88 symptoms as grounds for compensation. The other, whose name was also redacted, listed 90.

Examples of symptoms include “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”

Harmon, the Kleins’ lawyer, told The Daily Signal that during the hearing “there was no expert testimony.”

The witnesses at the hearing were the two women who were requesting a cake, one of their mothers, one of their brothers and another family member. There was no doctor, there was no psychologist, no expert testimony at all.

In collecting the fine, Harmon said the state isn’t just pursuing the Kleins’ business assets, but their personal livelihood as well.

“An important thing to understand about the damages the state is claiming in this case is that the [fine] isn’t going to come from liquidating business assets,” she said.

Their business is gone. They don’t have business assets so when we talk about [the fine], it’s personal. It means that’s money they would have used to feed their children that they can’t use anymore.

In September 2013, after facing public backlash, the Kleins had to close their bakery.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries did not respond to The Daily Signal’s multiple requests for comment.

Paul Thompson, the attorney representing the lesbians, previously said he has “a policy of not discussing cases that are the subject of open litigation.”

Aaron, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal on Sunday, said the state of Oregon is attempting to “obliterate” his family.

“The state is now saying that we can award damages above and beyond what you have already suffered … and they have no qualms about doing this,” he said. “It is really showing the state is taking a stance on absolutely obliterating somebody that takes a different stance than the state has.”

The recommended fine will now go to to state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who can either accept it or adjust the amount in issuing a final order.
The Daily Signal