ECHR says Gareth Lee’s se agast bakery that refed to make ke wh ‘support gay marriage’ msage is admissible
Contents:
- ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY
- ‘GAY KE’ PLAT LED ADMISSIBLE BY EUROPEAN URT
- EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE NORTHERN IRELAND ‘GAY KE’ DISCRIMATN SE
- BAKERY THAT REFED TO BAKE KE WH GAY SLOGAN LOS N. IRELAND SE
‘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. 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. A legal challenge by a Northern Ireland gay rights activist who claimed he was discrimated agast when a bakery refed to make a ke wh a slogan supportg same-sex marriage has been dismissed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) urt clared the actn admissible and said the applint, Gareth Lee, had "failed to exhst domtic remedi" available through the UK the lg, published yterday, a majory of seven judg said Mr Lee had not voked his rights unr the ECHR “exprsly at any pot the domtic proceedgs” relyg solely on domtic law, they said, “the applint had prived the domtic urts of the opportuny to addrs any Conventn issu raised, stead askg the Court to urp the role of the domtic urts” 2014, Mr Lee, a member of the LGBT group QueerSpace, orred a ke om Belfast-based bakery Ashers – a Christian-n firm.
‘GAY KE’ PLAT LED ADMISSIBLE BY EUROPEAN URT
It was to feature the Same Street puppets Bert and Ernie and the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" took legal actn – which beme known as the ‘gay ke’ se – allegg discrimatn on the grounds of his sexualy after Ashers ncelled the orr due to the msage on the ke, which nflicted wh their Christian Lee, who was supported by the Northern Ireland Equaly Commissn, won his se and a subsequent appeal the Northern Ireland urts, but the bakery owners, the McArthurs – who were backed by the Christian Instute – took the se to the Supreme Court, which found favour of the bakery 2018.
EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE NORTHERN IRELAND ‘GAY KE’ DISCRIMATN SE
“Everyone has eedom of exprsn and mt equally apply to lbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, ” he said. “I’m surprised anyone would want to overturn a lg that protects gay bs owners om beg forced to promote views they don’t share, jt as much as protects Christian bs owners. 10, 2018DUBLIN — Bra’s Supreme Court supported on Wednday the right of a Belfast bakery to refe to bake a ke wh a msage supportg same-sex marriage, fdg that s Christian owners uld not be pelled to reproduce a msage ntrary to their beliefs.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.“There was no discrimatn on grounds of sexual orientatn,” said the judgment, which overturned the lgs of two lower urts.It 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 rights.The 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 ins.Mr.
BAKERY THAT REFED TO BAKE KE WH GAY SLOGAN LOS N. IRELAND SE
“But that is not what happened this se and do the project of equal treatment no favors to seek to extend beyond s proper spe.”ImageCred...Brian 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.“The important msage om the Masterpiece Cakhop se is that there is a clear distctn between refg to produce a ke nveyg a particular msage, for any ctomer who wants such a ke, and refg to produce a ke for the particular ctomer who wants bee of that ctomer’s characteristics,” they wrote, addg that the Belfast bakery “would have refed to supply this particular ke to anyone, whatever their personal characteristics.”Daniel McArthur, a member of the fay that ns Ashers Bakery, said they were “lighted” wh the lg.“We always knew we had done nothg wrong turng down the orr,” he told the Guardian newspaper. But the measure was blocked by the Democratic Unnist Party, which draws s support mostly om nservative Prottants.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 .John O’Doherty, the director of the Rabow Project, a Belfast group that supports gay rights, qutned the reasong of the urt lg.“It seems to be the opn of the urt that prtg a msage on somethg is the same thg as endorsg that msage,” he said.
“But this is a bs where the vast majory of people who shop there or work there would have no ia whether was supposed to be Christian or not.”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. Europe’s top human rights urt on Thursday led admissible a man’s discrimatn claim agast a Belfast bakery for clg his pro-same-sex marriage ke orr bee of s owners’ relig lg end a years-long legal battle that had raised qutns about civil rights, relig eedoms and sexual orientatn Northern Ireland, a regn of saga also mirrored siar, high-profile s the Uned Stat, where bakeri and other bs recent years have refed to ter same-sex European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, said Thursday that the claim was admissible bee the plaant, gay rights activist Gareth Lee, had failed to voke his rights unr Europe’s human rights nventn as the se ma s way through the Brish urt system.
”The plat was first ma 2014 after Lee notified Northern Ireland’s Equaly Commissn that the Christian-n bakery, Ashers Bakg Co., had nceled his orr for a ke featurg Same Street characters Bert and Ernie and bearg the slogan “Support Gay Marriage. Gay rights activists w battle over 'Bert & Ernie' ke.