Late Friday night, anyone looking for the GoFundMe page set up to help the Gresham bakers facing a large unlawful discrimination award would have hit a dead end.
More precisely, they would get a "Campaign Not Found" message on the Support Sweet Cakes by Melissa web page.
A supporter of Aaron and Melissa Klein set up the campaign to help raise money for the couple after an administrative law judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries issued a proposed order recommending they pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple from Portland.
The BOLI judge said the Kleins illegally discriminated against Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer when they refused the women's attempt to order a wedding cake, instead citing their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage.
By 5 p.m. Friday, more than $66,000 had been raised toward a goal of $150,000. A lawyer for the Kleins said the GoFundMe.com web page had been authorized by her clients, owners of the bakery bearing Melissa's name.
By 9 p.m., it became apparent there were problems. Visitors to the web page encountered a terse note: "We're sorry, but the campaign URL you entered cannot be found."
On the Sweet Cakes by Melissa Facebook page, there was this:
Evidently Go fund me has shut down our Go fund me page and will not let us raise any money. Satan's really at work but I know our God has a plan and wins in the end!
Posted by Sweet Cakes by Melissa on Friday, April 24, 2015
Earlier in the day, the page announced:
We just found out that the judge has made his decision, he is ordering that we pay $135,000 in emotional damages. This...
Posted by Sweet Cakes by Melissa on Friday, April 24, 2015
It wasn't clear Friday what specifically led to the apparent shelving of the GoFundMe fundraiser. But in response to a query by The Oregonian/OregonLive, the San Diego-based company provided this email reply:
Thank you for writing to us about this campaign.
After careful review by our team, we have found the "Support Sweet Cakes By Melissa" campaign to be in violation of our Terms and Conditions and have removed this campaign. The money raised thus far will still be made available for withdrawal.
You may review copy of our Terms and Conditions here: http://www.gofundme.com/terms
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
-- George Rede
grede@oregonian.com
503-294-4004
@georgerede