By Todd Starnes

November 16, 2016

Aaron and Melissa Klein, Sweet Cakes By Melissa owners  (Courtesy of the Kleins )

An Oregon bureaucrat who waged political jihad against the owners of a Christian bakery was given the heave-ho by voters.

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian was defeated by Republican Dennis Richardson in his bid to be Secretary of State.

It’s the first time a Republican has been elected to a statewide office in Oregon since 2002.

So consider this – Avakian was too liberal for what is arguably one of the most liberal states in the country.  Avakian, a passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA crowd, was thrust into the national spotlight when he declared war on a Christian bakery in 2013.

Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, declined to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple’s ceremony. The Kleins, who are devout Christians, explained that participating in a same-sex wedding would violate their deeply-held religious beliefs.

Avakian launched a very public and very ugly assault on the Klein family – alleging they had discriminated about the lesbian couple. They faced boycotts and picket lines and other wedding vendors were threatened with similar action if they did business with Sweet Cakes. The family’s young children received death threats and the store’s  social networking platforms were overrun by militant LGBT activists posting obscene and profane messages.

The Kleins were eventually ordered to pay $135,000 in “emotional damages” to the lesbians. They were also forced to shutter their retail location – and eventually shut down their family bakery.

“The goal is never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate,” Avakian told The Oregonian in 2013.

Avakian was just as ruthless in his attacks on a Portland bar that turned away

To read this article in its entirety, go to: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/11/16/oregon-official-who-bullied-christian-bakery-owners-loses-election.html