Bigoted Bakers Make Big Bucks: Ore. Couple Gets $370K in Donations

Bigots sure do take care of their own.

The anti-gay religious right persecution machine would like you to think that Alan and Melissa Klein are in financial ruin. Guess again.

Faced with a court order to pay $135,000 in damages for violating Oregon's anti-discrimination law for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple on religious grounds, Alan and Melissa Klein hit the jackpot with a crowdfunding campaign, whose revenue has far exceeded any well-deserved fines the pair of bigoted bakers have to pay.

As reported by Politico , Oregon bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa owners Alan and Melissa Klein turned to crowdfunding to raise money after their business closed in 2013 as a result of the lawsuit against them. They managed to raise $109,000 from a GoFundMe campaign that was pulled by the crowdsourcing site, when they changed their policy involving fundraising for discrimination.

After being 86'd from GoFundMe, the Kleins moved their online fund raising initiative to the faith based fundraising company Continue to Give. That's when the real money started pouring in.

As of this writing, in less than 12 weeks the Kleins have received over $370,000 from the Continue to Give campaign alone. That in addition to the $109,000 they were allowed to keep from their GoFundMe campaign.

And while the Kleins may have grossed nearly $480,000 from donations (a huge chunk of which will have to cover court costs, legal expenses and that $135,000 damages ruling), their windfall pales in comparison to the $844,000 donated online in support of the owners of the Indiana pizza shop who said they would refuse to cater pizzas for gay weddings.