Melissa Klein, the owner of the bakery that refused to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding ceremony, has revealed that the state of Oregon seized all of her bank accounts weeks before she planned to pay the settlement from the suit brought against her by the couple. According to Fox News, Klein and her husband were hit with a penalty of over $135,000 in July payable to the lesbian couple who cited "emotional suffering" for the mom-and-pop bakers holding to their Christian beliefs. The state, ignoring the couple's religious liberty, agreed and said the small business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, couldn't discriminate against the rights of LGBT customers.
The Kleins quickly gained support for standing up for their own rights and began receiving donations which were kept in a separate account from their personal banking in order to pay the settlement. But in the weeks before Christmas, Mrs. Klein was shocked to find out that Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries had confiscated all the money in all of her accounts.
“It was like my breath was taken away,” Melissa Klein said to Fox's Todd Starnes. “I panicked. Everything was gone.”
“We had three accounts,” she continued. “I have one account that’s labeled, ‘God’s money’ – our tithing. They just took it.”
An attorney for the couple said the fight is not over and the couple "will continue to work to ensure that every American has the First Amendment right to express their faith-based beliefs, and to conduct their daily affairs according to their conscience."
