Ashers Baking to appeal 'discrimination' ruling

The owners of Ashers Baking Co, who were told by a judge last week that they had ‘discriminated’ against a customer for refusing to bake a cake promoting same-sex ‘marriage’, have announced their decision to appeal the ruling.

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The owners of Ashers Baking Co, who were told by a judge last week that they had ‘discriminated’ against a customer for refusing to bake a cake promoting same-sex ‘marriage’, have announced their decision to appeal the ruling.

Judge Isobel Brownlie, sitting at Belfast Court, ordered the McArthur family to pay £500 in damages for “injury to feelings” after ruling that the bakery had “directly discriminated” against the customer on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Passing the ruling, Judge Brownlie said: "This is direct discrimination for which there is no justification. The defendants are not a religious organisation. They are a business for profit. There are no exceptions available.

"As much as I acknowledge their religious beliefs this is a business to provide service to all. The law says they must do that.”

The Judge said she recognised that the McArthur family, who owned the bakery, "hold genuine deeply held religious beliefs" but that "whilst defendants have right to religious beliefs they are limited as to how they manifest them."

Ashers Baking was asked to make a cake decorated with the slogan 'support gay marriage' but declined on the basis that to do so would compromise their Christian beliefs. LGBT activist Gareth Lee, who placed the order, also wanted a picture of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie in an embrace, and a logo of the homosexual pressure group, QueerSpace, where he acted as a volunteer.

Management informed Mr Lee that the bakery, run by the McArthur family, would be unable to produce the cake on the basis of a conscientious objection and offered to give him a full refund.

But the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, a Government-run quango, launched a civil action against the bakery, claiming that it had discriminated against Mr Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation.

It alleged discrimination under two anti-discrimination statutes – The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2006 and The Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998.

The bakery is being supported by the Christian Institute.

Appeal

Commenting on the family’s decision to appeal, Daniel McArthur 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.”