Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) wants to make it clear to everybody that when it ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple for refusing to bake them a wedding cake, that this money did not constitute “fines or civil penalties which are punitive in nature.” It is just the state of Oregon ordering the Kleins to give their money to somebody else on the threat of having a lien placed on their home. That is apparently something completely different.

While the couple works out an appeal, take note of a press release BOLI sent out to announce its order. I blogged about the order last week and didn’t even notice the release. Cato Senior Fellow (and Reason Contributing Editor) Walter Olson pointed out the release on Twitter, noting that it’s trying to defend this decision by comparing it to a case where they found that a Christian had been discriminated against on the basis of her beliefs. The release did not actually ask, “Where was the outrage then?” but it is clearly mentioned as a way to show that BOLI also defends the rights of Christians when they’ve been discriminated against.

The case is significantly different though — about a Christian employee of a dental facility whose employer was a Scientologist who apparently attempted to require her to attend some sort of Scientology management training seminar. Even if I conceded that a Scientologist dentist does not have the right to employ like-minded associates (I am not making such a concession), this is a situation where the person being punished by BOLI attempted to coerce somebody into doing something she didn’t want to do because she felt it violated her religious beliefs. See the comparison? BOLI was on the complete other side in this case but doesn’t even realize the difference, because all it can see are its non-discrimination regulations and who is allowed to do what, not any sort of consistent philosophy. BOLI does not realize or care that it is now the entity engaging in coercion and threatening the livelihoods of others. They can do that because they’re the government, not a bakery or a dentist.

Read the article “Oregon Agency Inadvertently Admits Rules Used to Fine Bakers Unneeded, Mostly Unused” on reason.com.