Melissa and Aaron Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery received a letter from the Bureau of Labor and Industry to pay $135,000 in damages to a homosexual couple by Monday, July 13. The Kleins, a Christian couple were fined by an Oregon state judge on charges of sexual orientation discrimination for refusing wedding cake services to a same-sex couple.
Continue To Give, an online crowdfunding website has raised 216% of its $150,000 goal to help the Kleins. The site helps churches, missionaries, nonprofit organizations, and individuals raise money. The money raised by Continue To Give is estimated to be $324,000. The campaign received 7,053 comments and was shared 18,225 times.
"They have been struggling financially ever since they were forced to close the doors of their bakery in 2013 as their income was basically cut in half. If they are forced to pay the damages to the lesbian couple they will be in much worse shape than they are now. They are pioneers in standing strong for the Lord and have been very courageous and steadfast throughout this whole ordeal," states the campaign description.
Earlier in April 2015, their campaign to "Support Sweet Cakes By Melissa" was shut down by GoFundMe, a fundraising website. GoFundMe released a statement explaining that the campaign violated their company's policy. GoFundMe does not support "campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts."
