Sweet Cakes 2013.jpg

Melissa Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, chats with a customer in this file photo. She and her husband Aaron Klein are embroiled in a civil rights case stemming from their refusal to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in January 2013.

(Everton Bailey Jr. / The Oregonian)

An Oregon bakery discriminated against a lesbian couple who wanted to order a wedding cake, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries announced Monday.

As a result, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery in Gresham, Ore., could have to pay up to $200,000, USA Today reported yesterday, citing Charlie Burr, a spokesman for the bureau. The exact amount will be determined at a hearing next month.

In January 2013, Sweet Cakes refused to sell a cake to Laurel Bowman and Rachel Cryer for their wedding. Bowman told the newspaper that one of the co-owners of the bakery told her the wedding would be an "abomination to the lord."

Bowman filed an anti-discrimination complaint with the state later that year, citing a 2007 law that protects the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender individuals.

According to MassLive's sister website, OregonLive.com, an administrative law judge rejected the owners' contention that they had the right to reject the order, based on their religious beliefs. The bakery is not a religious institution, USA Today reported.

In Oregon, such cases may be heard either before an administrative law judge or taken to civil court, OregonLive reported.

Both sides had had sought a speedy decision in the dispute, but in his order, administrative Judge Alan McCullough found that the facts in the case supported charges of unlawful discrimination.

Anna Harmon, one of three lawyers representing bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein disagreed.

The hearing scheduled for March 10 is intended to focus on the amount of damages to be awarded to the couple.

Cryer, 31, and Bowman, 30, were married on May 23, four days after a federal judge ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in Oregon.