The Christian management of the Northern Irish ‘Ashers bakery,’ have won their so-called ‘gay cake’ Supreme Court case by unanimous ruling of 5-0. Meanwhile politicians have written to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, who took out £250k of taxpayer’s money to support gay rights activist Mr Gareth Lee to study their cases more carefully next time given the clear conclusion of the five judges’ ruling.
The bakery’s customer, gay rights activist Gareth Lee, had ordered a cake (featuring the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie) with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage.” When the Ashers company informed him they could not procure it due to their religious beliefs, he sued the company for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs (with state support for his legal fees).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Daniel McArthur of Ashers bakery says he's delighted with the outcome in the so-called <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gaycake?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#gaycake</a> case. More here: <a href="https://t.co/Nr2DhGTkzL">https://t.co/Nr2DhGTkzL</a> <a href="https://t.co/WHcfbw6Yni">pic.twitter.com/WHcfbw6Yni</a></p>— BBC News NI (@BBCNewsNI) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCNewsNI/status/1049968039091953665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">10 October 2018</a></blockquote>
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The court battle lasted four-and-a-half years and has cost the Northern Irish state nearly £500,000 so far as the Ashers company refused to give up and took the case to an ever-higher court. They were backed by several Christian NGOs who raised money for the case.
It had raised questions in the press over questions of equality and freedom of conscience for same sex couples in Northern Ireland but in the end the unanimous decision by the country’s highest court made it quite clear that the bakers were in their right.
President of the Supreme Court Lady Hale explained that the bakers did not refuse to fulfil the order because of Mr Lee’s sexual orientation and he was therefore not discriminated against.
Lady Hale stated: "They would have refused to make such a cake for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: Victory for Ashers Bakery in ‘gay cake’ case. <br><br>Supreme Court has ruled that their refusal to bake the cake was NOT discriminatory. <a href="https://t.co/TMgxnN9s9E">pic.twitter.com/TMgxnN9s9E</a></p>— Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCMarkSimpson/status/1049948796304666625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">10 October 2018</a></blockquote>
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Ashers bakery's general manager Daniel McArthur stated he was relieved all turned out well in the end: "I know a lot of people will be glad to hear this ruling today, because this ruling protects freedom of speech and freedom of conscience for everyone."
Questions will now be asked as to whether the Equality Commission was right to spend more than £250,000 of public money on this case.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have written to the Secretary of State for NI calling for a review of funding for the equality commission. After such a decisive finding by the Supreme Court the equality commissions immediate response has been to threaten to waste more public money on this case. Stop it now!</p>— Ian Paisley MP (@ianpaisleymp) <a href="https://twitter.com/ianpaisleymp/status/1049963564092588033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">10 October 2018</a></blockquote>
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Member of Parliament for the British government party DUP Mr Ian Paisley meanwhile said he has written to the Northern Ireland Secretary as a lot of people have complained over the amount of taxpayer’s money spent on the case.
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I'm impressed that this is still possible in the UK.