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Tag: Ashers Bakery

Ashers Bakery is a Christian run Ashers Baking Co. in Northern Ireland who refused to make a pro-gay marriage cake, which featured a slogan “Support Gay Marriage – Queer Space Born 1998”. They battled through the UK court system to prove that the denial of service wasn’t discrimination.

  • Politician Congrats Institute Backing Anti-Gay Marriage Bakers

    Jim Wells, a Northern Irish Assembley member has congratulated the Christian Institute (CI) for backing the bakery which refused a ‘gay marriage’ cake order.

    Jim Wells, 57, has taken to Twitter to congratulate the strongly gay apposed Institute by saying,

    ‘Well done to the Christian Institute for their strong backing of the family firm who refused to make a pro gay marriage cake.’

    The Ashers Bakers Co. a Christian run bakers in Northern Ireland, refused an order to make a pro ‘gay marriage’ cake because it went against the owner’s beliefs. The bakery is now facing legal action from the Equalities Commission.

    In response to the news that the Equalities Commission were seeking to undertake legal action, the minister tweeted,

    ‘Why is the Equality Commission wasting a large amount of tax payers’ money pursuing Ashers Bakery because it stands for taditional [sic] marriage?

    On its website the Christian Institute, which is described as a British evangelical Christian pressure group, has said, ‘The Christian Institute is backing this case which proves the need for the law to reasonably accommodate family-run businesses with firmly held beliefs.’ and is asking members of the public to donate to help support the Ashers Baking Company and ‘others like them.’

    The CI is a registered charity that has sought to retain section 28, to raise the age of consent for gay people and opposed the Civil Partnership Act and same-sex marriage act.

    The CI has backed many legal actions in the past, but has been unsuccessful in many attempts, most notably the CI backed Hotel owners Mr and Mrs Ball, who infamously denied lodgings to a gay couple. Numerous attempts of appeal have all subsequently failed.

    Wells has been in office since June 1998 and also believes that abortion in Northern Ireland should remain illegal, except in medical emergencies. According to Wikipedia Wells is an environmentalist and a young earth creationist, who believes the earth to be 6,000 years old.

    He is currently the Deputy Chair of the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and a member of the Committee for Justice for the Democratic Unionist Party.

  • PM David Cameron: Commitment To Equality On Bakery Discrimination

    UK Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken about equality after being questioned about a UK-based baker who refused a ‘gay-marriage’ cake order based on their ethos.

    During Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday, David Cameron was asked by DUP MP Gregory Campbell, whether the news about the Northern Ireland bakery which refused to make a cake which featured a pro-gay marriage slogan was “an oppressive threat to religious freedom”.

    The East Londonderry MP said those ‘freedoms’ should be protected by a conscience clause, which top UK Judge Baroness Hale called for earlier in the year. The clause would suggest that religious beliefs could be protected over discrimination against minority groups.

    The Prime Minister, although unaware of the case in hand said,

    ‘I think that a commitment to equality – whether we are talking about racial equality, equality between those of different sexes, equality in terms of people who have disabilities, or, indeed, tolerance of and equality for people with different sexualities – is a very important part of being British.’

    Ashers Bakery Co. business owners who refused an order from Queerspace, which was in support of same-sex marriage, could now face legal proceedings by the Equality Commision if it doesn’t ‘recompense the customer’.

    Although same-sex marriage is legal in England & Wales, Northern Ireland is yet to change the law with regards to marriage. In April a same-sex marriage motion was defeated in NI.

    The Bakery is unapologetic when it comes to their discrimination saying, ‘Although we have found this experience certainly unsettling and disruptive to our day-to-day business, we are certainly convinced that we have made the right decision.

    ‘We do continue to take the stand and stance that we do take.’

  • Northern Ireland Christian Baker Denies Gay Marriage Cake Order

    A bakery in Northern Ireland which denied a pro-same-sex marriage cake order, based on its owners’ beliefs could now face legal proceedings.

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