I’ve changed my md on the gay ke row. Here’s why | Peter Tatchell | The Guardian

Contents:

• 'GAY KE' ROW: WHAT IS THE DISPUTE ABOUT?
• ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY
• GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE
• I’VE CHANGED MY MD ON THE GAY KE ROW. HERE’S WHY
• THE GAY CAKE DEBATE SETTLED NOTHG, SO SCOTUS HAS TO DO IT AGA
• PATRICK STEWART BACKS BAKERY AFTER 'GAY KE' URT BATTLE
• THE GREAT CHRISTIAN DEBATE OVER WHETHER J WOULD BAKE A CAKE FOR A GAY WEDDG
• UK SUPREME URT BACKS BAKERY THAT REFED TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE KE
• WHOLE FOODS SAYS CTOMER FAKED ANTI-GAY CAKE SLUR
• ANDREW GARFIELD'S TONY AWARDS SPEECH TAK ON GAY CAKE DEBATE
• OPN: CAN A BAKER REFE TO MAKE AN ANTI-GAY KE?
• JTIC SHARPLY DIVID GAY RIGHTS CASE

'GAY KE' ROW: WHAT IS THE DISPUTE ABOUT?

The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed a legal challenge a long-nng dispute known as the "gay ke" se, lg the actn ECHR is the latt urt to have s say the long-nng all started 2014, when a bakery Northern Ireland refed to make a ke wh a slogan supportg same-sex 's a look at how the se reached Strasbourg:What about the bakery? The bakery me to wir promence July 2014 when emerged that had cled an orr s Belfast branch om gay rights activist Gareth Lee.

He had wanted them to make a ke that clud a slogan that said "support gay marriage" along wh a picture of Bert and Ernie om Same Street, and the logo of the Queerspace the time, same-sex marriage was still illegal Northern Ireland, but the law has sce changed and same-sex weddgs have been takg place sce Febary ke was beg missned for a civic event Bangor, County Down, to mark Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and at the bakery passed the orr to s head office, which nsired to be "at odds" wh their beliefs. Durg the heargs, a lawyer for the bakery argued the issue was "the ke, not the ctomer" of the bakers, Karen McArthur, said she did not know Mr Lee was gay and would not have mattered as they would not have been prepared to make a ke wh a pro-same-sex marriage slogan for anyone.

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

In October 2016, the owners of the bakery lost their appeal agast the lg that their refal to make a "gay ke" was discrimatory.

Image source, RtersImage ptn, Jack Phillips has temporarily stopped makg weddg kThe US Supreme Court has led favour of a baker Colorado who refed to make a weddg ke for a gay uple.The Colorado state urt had found that baker Jack Phillips' cisn to turn away David Mulls and Charlie Craig 2012 was unlawful discrimatn.But the Supreme Court led on Monday a 7-2 vote that that cisn had vlated Mr Phillips' rights. The nservative Christian ced his relig beliefs refg service.Gay rights groups feared a lg agast the uple uld set a precent for treatg gay marriag differently om heterosexual unns.But the Supreme Court's verdict stead foc specifilly on Mr Phillips' se. The cisn do not state that florists, photographers, or other servic n now refe to work wh gay upl.The lg three years after the Supreme Court ma same-sex marriage the law of the land s landmark Obergefell v Hodg cisn.Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, David Mulls (left) and Charlie Craig wanted a weddg ke to celebrate their planned marriageWhat did Monday's lg say?The Supreme Court's majory opn said the Colorado Civil Rights Commissn had been biased agast Mr Phillips.The verdict said the missn had shown "clear hostily" and implied relig beliefs "are ls than fully wele Colorado's bs muny".

Jtice Anthony Kennedy wrote that while Colorado law "n protect gay persons acquirg products and servic... A siar 'gay ke' row is ongog Northern Ireland.

GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE

The Supreme Court Belfast has yet to release an opn on a lower urt lg that found the owners of a bakery discrimated agast a gay activist for refg to bake a ke wh the slogan "Support Gay Marriage".The row began May 2014, when gay activist Gareth Lee placed an orr for a ke wh the gay marriage slogan.Two days later, the Christian-owned Ashers bakery ncelled the orr sayg "would ntradict their relig beliefs". Supreme Court victory over his refal to make a weddg ke for a gay uple on Thursday lost his appeal of a lg a separate se that he vlated a state anti-discrimatn law by not makg a ke to celebrate a genr Colorado Court of Appeals agreed wh a trial judge that Masterpiece Cakhop and the bakery's owner, Jack Phillips, vlated Autumn Srda's rights by nyg her service bee of her inty as a transgenr woman.

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

Supreme Court 2017 agreed to hear Phillips’ challenge to the Colorado Civil Rights Commissn's ncln he discrimated agast a gay uple for whom he had refed to make a weddg Supreme Court 2018 led Phillips' favor but on narrow grounds that stopped short of creatg a ee speech exemptn to anti-discrimatn laws, fdg the missn was hostile toward Phillips’ Christian 6-3 nservative majory urt December heard arguments a siar se volvg Alliance Defendg Freedom client Lorie Smh, a Christian web signer who argu she has a right to refe to provi servic for same-sex se is Srda v. Supreme Court leans toward web signer wh anti-gay marriage stanceColorado baker se of Supreme Court su state over 'persecutn'U.

Supreme Court backs Christian baker who rebuffed gay upleOur Standards: The Thomson Rters Tst Raymond reports on the feral judiciary and ligatn. 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 GAY CAKE DEBATE SETTLED NOTHG, SO SCOTUS HAS TO DO IT AGA

”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. Some people might dismiss the prcipl at stake the Masterpiece Cakhop se by argug that a gay uple n simply purchase their ke elsewhere.

If a pany n refe to sell weddg k to a gay uple on the basis of relig nvictns, n a rtrant also then refe to serve food to a divorcée or an unmarried uple wh a child?

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.

PATRICK STEWART BACKS BAKERY AFTER 'GAY KE' URT BATTLE

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. Surely this was an example of clear-cut anti-gay discrimatn?

THE GREAT CHRISTIAN DEBATE OVER WHETHER J WOULD BAKE A CAKE FOR A GAY WEDDG

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.

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

” 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.

WHOLE FOODS SAYS CTOMER FAKED ANTI-GAY CAKE SLUR

Or gay bakers accept orrs for k wh homophobic slurs? So for months the gay-ke bate was the worst of our problems, generatg headl and chyrons and fanng the flam of liberal outrage about… somethg.

But now the gay uple is argug for their “rights” not to a ke, but to a se. The gay ke bate settled, sentially, nothg.

For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsPatrick Stewart has weighed to the 'gay ke' bate, sayg that he supports the right of the Christian bakers to refe to ice msag they fd Bakery lost a urt se after refg to make a ke wh the words "support gay marriage" above a picture of Bert and Ernie om Same McArthur fay who own the bakery were found guilty of unlawful discrimatn and fed £ bakery's general manager Daniel McArthur said: "We don't want to be forced to promote a e which is agast our biblil beliefs. "It was not bee was a gay uple that they objected, was not bee they were celebratg some sort of marriage or an agreement between them, " said Stewart.

ANDREW GARFIELD'S TONY AWARDS SPEECH TAK ON GAY CAKE DEBATE

"Coleen Nolan prevly exprsed a siar sentiment, although was perhaps not as refully Loose Women panelist played vil's advote for the bakery, parg their reactn to beg asked to support gay marriage to a Wterner beg asked to ice a ke supportg Isis. Bills to allow people to refe service to gay upl on relig grounds have popped up several stat, and led Christians to bate a prsg theologil qutn: Would J bake a ke for a gay weddg?

This article is om the archive of our partner to allow people to refe service to gay upl on relig grounds have popped up several stat, and led Christians to bate a prsg theologil qutn: Would J bake a ke for a gay weddg? The bate started last week when Kirsten Powers, a Daily Beast and USA Today lumnist, Fox News ntributor, and a Christian, argued that laws protectg a person's relig eedom to discrimate agast gay people were a morn day Jim Crow. "Christians backg this bill are sentially argug for homosexual Jim Crow laws, " she wrote USA Today.

OPN: CAN A BAKER REFE TO MAKE AN ANTI-GAY KE?

Erick Erickson, wrg at Red State on Friday, argued that J would bake a gay person a ke most suatns. He'd bake anyone a ke:J Christ would absolutely bake a ke for a gay person.

JTIC SHARPLY DIVID GAY RIGHTS CASE

The problem is that gay rights activists and others thk 's OK for the state to force people to not discrimate. So, no, J would not bake a weddg ke:You might thk J would bake a ke for a gay weddg.