Bakers to mount appeal against 'gay cake' ruling

The owners of Ashers Baking Company have confirmed they will appeal last week’s court ruling that it had discriminated against a customer by refusing to decorate a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage.

Belfast County Court ordered Ashers to pay £500 damages for ‘injury to feelings’ after Judge Isobel Brownlie found that customer and gay rights activist Gareth Lee had been treated ‘less favourably’ and that the bakery had breached sexual orientation discrimination regulations.

The McArthur family, who own and run Ashers, has decided to challenge the ruling after consulting with their lawyers.

In a statement, the family said: ‘After much careful and prayerful consideration given to legal advice, we have decided to appeal the judgment handed down last Tuesday. We continue to insist that we have done nothing wrong as we have discriminated against no individual but rather acted according to what the Bible teaches regarding marriage.  

‘As many other people have already noted, Christian beliefs seem to have been trampled over in this judgment and we believe this only has negative effects for our society.

‘Our hope and prayer would be that an appeal will allow us and other Christians to live out their faith in Jesus Christ in every part of their lives, including their workplace.’

Equality claim

The case followed a decision in May 2014 by Ashers to decline an order placed at its Belfast store. Lee, who volunteers at the Belfast-based campaign group QueerSpace, had requested a cake featuring the organisations logo and Sesame Street puppets, Bert and Ernie, with the campaign slogan, ‘Support Gay Marriage’.

Ashers, owned by Colin and Karen McArthur, refused to make the cake because it carried a message contrary to the family’s firmly-held Christian beliefs. They were supported by their son Daniel, the general manager of the company.

Lee brought Ashers' refusal to the attention of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI), who launched a civil action against the company, claiming its actions violated equality laws in Northern Ireland and alleging discrimination under two anti-discrimination statutes: The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2006 and The Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998.

The McArthurs are being supported by the Christian Institute which is funding their legal costs.

Simon Calvert, a spokesperson for the institute, said that if it is allowed to stand the court decision will have dramatic consequences: ‘I believe that most people think that this is a ruling that should be overturned.

‘There has been such extraordinary support from people from all walks of life who are appalled by what has happened to the McArthur family. There is huge public support for an appeal and it is vitally important that the higher courts consider this issue.’

Public opinion

A recent ComRes poll of 1,000 people found that 90 per cent of Northern Ireland voters believe equality laws ‘should be used to protect people from discrimination and not to force people to say something they oppose’.

The same poll found that nearly four out of five believed a Muslim printer should not be taken to court for refusing to print cartoons of Mohammed.

Almost three quarters believed a printing company run by Roman Catholics should not be forced by legal action to produce adverts calling for abortion to be legalised.

The news of the McArthurs’ appeal comes almost a week after Northern Ireland’s neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, became the first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote, with a referendumfinding that 62 per cent of voters were in favour of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

A senior Vatican official subsequently condemned the vote as a 'defeat for humanity'.

John van der Luit-Drummond is deputy editor for Solicitors Journal
john.vanderluit@solicitorsjournal.co.uk | @JvdLD