No, They Aren’t Being Fined for Refusing to Bake a Cake
The usual band of delusional nitwits are braying about how the owners of Sweetcakes are being punished for their religious beliefs. Its amazing what you learn when you actually read about the case:
The BOLI Final Order awards $60,000 in damages to Laurel Bowman-Cryer and $75,000 in damages to Rachel Bowman-Cryer for emotional suffering stemming directly from unlawful discrimination. The amounts are damages related to the harm suffered by the Complainants, not fines or civil penalties which are punitive in nature.
…
The Agency’s theory of liability is that since Respondents brought the case to the media’s attention and kept it there by repeatedly appearing in public to make statements deriding Complainants, it was foreseeable that this attention would negatively impact Complainants, making Respondents liable for any resultant emotional suffering experienced by Complainants.
You can read the full ruling here
So, to sum it up, the owners of Sweetcakes took a complaint about their failure to serve a customer and publicized it, posting the names and contact information of the complainants. They did so repeatedly, leading to death threats and harassment against the couple, including almost derailing an adoption the couple was attempting.
This is what they’re being fined $135,000 for, not their religious beliefs.
Once again, this is a case of Christian bullies playing the victim.