A gay activist and LGBT rights campaigner is siding with the bakery that has sparked a controversy over gay rights in Belfast. The courts determined that Ashers Baking Company was guilty of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-gay slogan but Peter Tatchell disagrees with the decision.
Tatchell wrote in a piece in The Sun that while he disagreed with Ashers Baking Company's stand against gay marriage, he felt it was wrong to force the company to "promote an idea they object to." He pointed out that the bakery did not refuse its gay customers but only declined to bake and decorate a cake with statements that went against their religious beliefs.
The gay rights campaigner said that the ruling has implications for freedom, warning that a Muslim publisher might be forced to print offensive cartoons about Muhammad while Jewish publishers could find themselves compelled to print a book that denies the Holocaust.
"Using the law to force Ashers and others to aid the dissemination of ideas that conflict with their conscience sets a dangerous, authoritarian precedent," said Tatchell.
Gareth Lee, who is also a gay activist, sued the bakery in 2014 after Ashers Bakery Company cancelled his request. He wanted a gay wedding cake that featured "Sesame Street" characters Bert and Ernie alongside a "Support Gay Marriage" slogan.
But the fight is not yet over, as Daniel and Amy McArthur, the bakery owners, have brought the case to the Supreme Court in London after losing in the Belfast lower court and the Court of Appeals. There will be two more years of litigation as a result, according to Michael Wardlow, who helped fund Lee's case.
Meanwhile, the bakery's lawyer David Scoffield said in court, "The notion that Christians may exercise their faith on Sundays but forget about it when they step into work on Monday is not real freedom of religion and is not freedom of conscience."
The case mirrors a similar litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court over Colorado baker Jack Phillips' refusal to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding.
