Northern Ireland has a ‘gay ke’ ntroversy, too - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY
• I’VE CHANGED MY MD ON THE GAY KE ROW. HERE’S WHY
• EUROPEAN COURT L NORTHERN IRELAND GAY KE SE ADMISSIBLE
• DISPUTE OVER GAY MARRIAGE-THEMED KE NORTHERN IRELAND RETURNS TO SUPREME COURT
• BELFAST BAKERY WAS FREE TO REFE GAY-MARRIAGE CAKE, COURT RUL
• 'GAY KE' BAKERY DISCRIMATED AGAST CLIENT OVER SEXUAL ORIENTATN, URT TOLD
• CHRISTIAN BAKERS WHO REFED TO MAKE ‘GAY KE’ LOSE DISCRIMATN APPEAL
• NORTHERN IRELAND HAS A ‘GAY KE’ NTROVERSY, TOO
• UK SUPREME URT BACKS BAKERY THAT REFED TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE KE

‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY

A man has lost a seven-year legal battle agast a Belfast bakery that refed to make him a ke emblazoned wh the msage “support gay marriage” as the European urt of human rights led that his claim was admissible, promptg disappotment om gay rights Thursday the ECHR, by a majory cisn, said would not rensir the cisn of the UK supreme urt, which had overturned a £500 damag award imposed on Ashers bakery, which is n by evangelil refed to produce the ke, featurg the Same Street puppets Bert and Ernie, 2014 for Gareth Lee, who was a supporter of the mpaign to legalise same-sex marriage Northern Ireland. Same-sex marriage was legalised Northern Ireland last the supreme urt judgment 2018, after s first hearg Northern Ireland, a Belfast unty urt and a urt of appeal had led that the pany discrimated agast Lee, who is gay, on the grounds of sexual ECHR said the claim was admissible bee the applint had not exprsly voked his rights unr the European nventn on human rights at any pot the domtic proceedgs and had relied solely on domtic said: “The supreme urt found on the facts of the se that the applint was not treated differently on acunt of his real or perceived sexual orientatn, but rather that the refal to supply the ke was bee of the fendants’ relig objectn to gay marriage.

“What was prcipally at issue, therefore, was not the effect on the applint’s private life or his eedom to hold or exprs his opns or beliefs, but rather whether Ashers bakery was required to produce a ke exprsg the applint’s polil support for gay marriage.

I’VE CHANGED MY MD ON THE GAY KE ROW. HERE’S WHY

Its puty director, Daniel Holr, said the ECHR’S lg on admissibily left dividuals and anisatns mpaigng on gay rights “vulnerable to a mercial bs refg to provi servic like prtg posters, leaflets, settg up webs etc, through claimg an exemptn to non-discrimatn laws on the basis of ‘’s not you ’s your msage’.

”The ECHR said balancg the rights of Lee and those of the bakery owners, Daniel and Amy McArthur, was “a matter of great import and sensivy to both LGBTIQ muni and to fah muni”, particularly Northern Calvert, a spokperson for the Christian Instute, which backed the McArthurs, lled the cisn good news for ee speech, addg: “It protects gay bs owners om beg forced to promote views they don’t share, jt as much as protects Christian bs owners.

The se of unlawful discrimatn brought agast Ashers Bakery for refg to bake a ke featurg gay partners is more than seems.

EUROPEAN COURT L NORTHERN IRELAND GAY KE SE ADMISSIBLE

More than an issue of gay rights Northern Ireland, is bt unrstood as a reflectn of the ambivalence of that untry’s peace procs. At the simplt level, this is an example of homophobia wh the nservative Christian muny Northern Ireland.

DISPUTE OVER GAY MARRIAGE-THEMED KE NORTHERN IRELAND RETURNS TO SUPREME COURT

I e the word homophobia liberately sce this is more than religly motivated dislike of the practice of homosexualy.

It is perfectly permissible to hold relig beliefs that rult dislike of homosexualy on grounds of nscience, but que another to discrimate agast LGBT people. As Robson noted, the attentn placed on only some relig beliefs – this se toward homosexualy – has ma nservative Christians lose sight of the purpose of belief J the first place. Like most gay and equaly mpaigners, I ially nmned the Christian-n Ashers Bakery Belfast over s refal to produce a ke wh a pro-gay marriage slogan for a gay ctomer, Gareth Lee.

Much as I wish to fend the gay muny, I also want to fend eedom of nscience, exprsn and saga began 2014 when the bakery said was not willg to ice a ke wh the words “support gay marriage” and the logo of the equaly group Queer Space, claimg the msage was ntrary to s Christian beliefs. This stck many of as anti-gay discrimatn based on relig-spired homophobic prejudice. Ashers believ that the relatnships of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people are wrong and should not be eligible for the stat of marriage.

BELFAST BAKERY WAS FREE TO REFE GAY-MARRIAGE CAKE, COURT RUL

Surely this was an example of clear-cut anti-gay discrimatn? They claim to be Christians, yet J never once nmned homosexualy, and discrimatn is not a Christian value. It sought to challenge homophobia.

It pas me to say this, as a long-time supporter of the stggle for LGBT equaly Northern Ireland, where same-sex marriage and gay blood donors rema banned. However, the urt erred by lg that Lee was discrimated agast bee of his sexual orientatn and polil ke requt was refed not bee he was gay, but bee of the msage he asked for. Dpe this, Judge Isobel Brownlie said that refg the pro-gay marriage slogan was unlawful direct sexual orientatn discrimatn.

” Brownlie th nclud that by refg to provi a ke wh a pro-gay marriage wordg Ashers had treated him ls favourably, ntrary to the fdg of polil discrimatn agast Lee sets a worryg precent.

'GAY KE' BAKERY DISCRIMATED AGAST CLIENT OVER SEXUAL ORIENTATN, URT TOLD

Or gay bakers accept orrs for k wh homophobic slurs? Daniel McArthur general manager of Ashers bakery volved a "gay ke" legal dispute arriv at a Supreme Court hearg Lagansi urts Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilyne/File Photo Acquire Licensg RightsBELFAST, Jan 6 (Rters) - A plat of discrimatn prevly dismissed by Bra's hight urt agast a bakery that refed to make a ke wh a pro-gay msage was admissible, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) led on Bakg Belfast was found guilty of discrimatn 2015 for refg to make a ke for a ctomer iced wh the words "Support Gay Marriage" bee of the owners' Christian bakery failed an appeal to the lol urts 2016 but the Supreme Court, the UK's hight judicial body, overturned that cisn two years later, sayg the bakers' objectn was to the msage on the ke, not to any personal characteristics of the msenger, or anyone wh whom he was Lee, a gay rights activist who had orred the ke, argued that the Supreme Court failed to give appropriate weight to him unr the European Conventn of Human Rights.

But the ECHR said uld not urp the role of the lol urts after Lee failed to exhst all domtic said this was particularly so Brish-n Northern Ireland, "where there is a large and strong fah muny and where the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTIQ) muny has endured a history of nsirable discrimatn and timidatn. Dispute over gay marriage-themed ke Northern Ireland returns to Supreme CourtA Christian-n bakery Northern Ireland is appealg two urt McArthur and wife Amy, who own Ashers Bakg Company, are pictured enterg the Royal Courts of Jtice Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 1, 2018.

Prs Eye Ltd/REX/ShutterstockLondon -- A Northern Ireland bakery n by evangelil Christians has lnched a new appeal to overturn two prev lgs that they discrimated agast a ctomer who requted a ke wh a pro-gay marriage slogan Lee placed an orr at the Ashers Bakg Co. McArthur have been penalized by the state, the form of the judgment, for failg to create and provi a product bearg an explic slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’ to which they have an objectn of nscience. Of Northern Ireland refed 2014 to make a ke iced wh the "Same Street" characters Bert and Ernie and the slogan "Support Gay Marriage.

CHRISTIAN BAKERS WHO REFED TO MAKE ‘GAY KE’ LOSE DISCRIMATN APPEAL

Although the person who requted the ke was gay, a five-judge panel found that the bakery owners’ refal was based not on his sexual orientatn, but on their Prottant fah’s opposn to gay marriage.

NORTHERN IRELAND HAS A ‘GAY KE’ NTROVERSY, TOO

“There was no discrimatn on grounds of sexual orientatn, ” said the judgment, which overturned the lgs of two lower ced the Uned Stat Supreme Court’s cisn June favor of a Colorado baker who had refed to create a weddg ke for a gay uple, a narrow cisn that left open the larger qutn of whether a bs n discrimate agast gay men and lbians based on First Amendment Brish se centered on Ashers Bakg Company Northern Ireland, which 2014 rejected an orr by the gay activist Gareth Lee for a ke wh the msage “Support Gay Marriage. ” He also wanted imag of the “Same Street” characters Bert and Ernie, nsired by some to be gay Lee tend to share the ke at a meetg support of same-sex marriage Northern Ireland, which do not perm the said he had not known that the bakery’s owners, the McArthur fay, were Christian when he placed his orr. ” Lawls/Prs Associatn, via Associated PrsThe judg ced as a precent the Uned Stat Supreme Court se which the Masterpiece Cakhop Colorado refed to bake a weddg ke for a gay uple 2012.

A 2016 poll found that 65 percent of people Northern Ireland support same-sex marriage, but that more than half of the regn’s pro-Brish unnists, who are maly Prottant, oppose O’Doherty, the director of the Rabow Project, a Belfast group that supports gay rights, qutned the reasong of the urt lg. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 4 of the New York edn wh the headle: Belfast Bakery Was Free to Refe Bakg Gay-Marriage Cake, Supreme Court Rul. The Evangelil Christian owners of a bakery that refed to make a gay-themed ke discrimated agast a client on grounds of his sexual orientatn, Northern Ireland’s high urt has heard.

A lawyer for an LGBT activist sug the bakery, Ashers, said that “but for the word gay this orr would have been fulfilled”. ”Former Ashers ctomer Gareth Lee sued the bakery after reversed an agreement to bake a ke wh a pro-gay marriage msage. The bakery ially accepted the orr but 48 hours later hand back the payment to Lee, who had asked for a ke featurg the Same Street puppets Bert and had orred to mark last year’s electn of the first openly gay mayor Northern Ireland as well as to ci wh Internatnal Day agast Homophobia last said should have been obv to Ashers that the person makg the requt for an iced pro-gay marriage slogan was gay himself.

UK SUPREME URT BACKS BAKERY THAT REFED TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE KE

“If you take the factual analysis, shorn of any meang, is the word gay the phrase that was the e of the differential treatment, ” the lawyer said. “It is clear that if the word gay had been replaced by the word heterosexual, the orr would have been accepted. Thoands of gay men UK to be pardoned for now-abolished sex offens.

Weddg k, particular, have bee a battleground for legal disput between those who support gay marriage and those who oppose .

Even the humble pizza, far om a staple weddg em, has been dragged to gay marriage ntroversy the Uned, the fight over "gay k" seems to have spread across the Atlantic, to Northern Ireland.