U.S. Supreme Court backs Christian baker who rebuffed gay uple | Rters

Contents:

• US SUPREME COURT BACKS COLORADO BAKER'S GAY WEDDG KE SNUB
• BAKER WHO REFED TO MAKE KE FOR GAY WEDDG: 'I DON'T DISCRIMATE'
• SUPREME COURT TOSS LG AGAST BAKERS WHO REFED KE FOR GAY UPLE
• ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY
• 13 GAY BAKERI REFE TO MAKE TRADNAL MARRIAGE CAKE WH THE MSAGE: 'GAY MARRIAGE IS WRONG'
• 'GAY KE' ROW: WHAT IS THE DISPUTE ABOUT?
• BAKER FORCED TO MAKE GAY WEDDG K, UNRGO SENSIVY TRAG, AFTER LOSG LAWSU
• UK SUPREME URT BACKS BAKERY THAT REFED TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE KE
• GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE
• U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REBUFFED GAY UPLE
• GAY KE

US SUPREME COURT BACKS COLORADO BAKER'S GAY WEDDG KE SNUB

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 Colorado state urt had found that baker Jack Phillips' cisn to turn away David Mulls and Charlie Craig 2012 was unlawful 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 rights groups feared a lg agast the uple uld set a precent for treatg gay marriag differently om heterosexual 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 lg three years after the Supreme Court ma same-sex marriage the law of the land s landmark Obergefell v Hodg source, Getty ImagImage ptn, David Mulls (left) and Charlie Craig wanted a weddg ke to celebrate their planned marriageWhat did Monday's lg say? 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. 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" row began May 2014, when gay activist Gareth Lee placed an orr for a ke wh the gay marriage days later, the Christian-owned Ashers bakery ncelled the orr sayg "would ntradict their relig beliefs". "The narrow Supreme Court lg lg Phillips’ se applied to the specific facts of his se only and gave ltle ht as to how the urt might ci future s volvg florists, bakers, photographers and other bs owners who have ced relig and ee-speech objectns when refg to serve gay and lbian ctomers the wake of the Supreme Court's 2015 same-sex marriage cisn.

BAKER WHO REFED TO MAKE KE FOR GAY WEDDG: 'I DON'T DISCRIMATE'

The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lg agast two Oregon bakers who refed to bake a weddg ke for a lbian uple, Melissa and Aaron Kle, ced relig beliefs as their reason for not providg servic for a gay weddg. WASHINGTON SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST FLORIST WHO REFUSED SERVICE FOR GAY COUPLE'S WEDDINGOn Monday, the Supreme Court sent the Kle se back down to a lower urt "for further nsiratn light of" their Colorado central disput the se -- which ps LGBT rights agast relig eedom nsiratns -- have yet to be addrsed by the Supreme Court. Kle then said the bakery do not make k for gay weddgs, urt documents 's mother, who was wh her, said Kle quoted the Bible when explag his Kles had to pay a $135, 000 judgment to the uple for discrimatg agast them vlatn of a state public acmodatns statute.

SUPREME COURT TOSS LG AGAST BAKERS WHO REFED KE FOR GAY UPLE

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. 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 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.

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

| (Photo: Rters/David McNew)Dpe anti-discrimatn laws many stat that require Christian bakery owners to bake k for same-sex weddgs, 13 LGBT and gay-owned bakeri objected to one man's requt when he asked if they'd make a pro-tradnal marriage ke that would read "gay marriage is wrong. Shoebat set off on a vio experiment where he lled 13 bakeri, which are all eher known as gay-owned bakeri or bakeri that strongly support gay marriage, and told them that he was hostg a pro-tradnal marriage celebratn and that he need a ke that says "gay marriage is wrong. "Shoebat even lled a gay okie shop lled Hot Cookie San Francis and asked if they would make him a pizza-sized okie wh "gay marriage is wrong" wrten on .

After she told Shoebat that the bakery would not make the okie, Shoebat told her that the bakery mt not stand for equaly if they're refg to make a okie for a Christian who believ homosexualy is wrong.

"Shoebat rpond by tellg her that although Christian bakers believe that gay marriage is morally wrong, they are still forced to make k for the same-sex weddgs. "All of the homosexual activists California are workg to force Christian bs California to acquice to homosexual opn and thgs that they don't agree wh, " Shoebat asserted.

13 GAY BAKERI REFE TO MAKE TRADNAL MARRIAGE CAKE WH THE MSAGE: 'GAY MARRIAGE IS WRONG'

"Technilly, you are discrimatg agast people like me, when you refe to make a ke that says 'gay marriage is wrong. Although every time Shoebat was nied and tried to start a bate about why the bakery was not standg for equaly, most of the reprentativ jt hung up on his poted ethil majory of short rpons that Shoebat recevied om bakery workers noted that his requt went agast their "belief" gay Christian bs owners have felt the stly impact of vlatg their state's anti-discrimatn laws after they nied service based on their biblil "belief" the tradnal fn of marriage, which stat that marriage is only between one man and one woman. "I am a man who believ gay marriage is wrong.

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

BAKER FORCED TO MAKE GAY WEDDG K, UNRGO SENSIVY TRAG, AFTER LOSG LAWSU

That opn, also wrten by Kennedy, exprsed rpect for those wh relig objectns to gay marriage. “Our society has e to the regnn that gay persons and gay upl nnot be treated as social outsts or as ferr digny and worth, ” he wrote Monday. “At the same time the relig and philosophil objectns to gay marriage are protected views and some stanc protected forms of exprsn, ” Kennedy wrote, addg that the “ntral nsiratn to which Phillips was entled was promised here.

“The oute of s like this other circumstanc mt awa further elaboratn the urts, all the ntext of regnizg that the disput mt be rolved wh tolerance, whout undue disrpect to scere relig beliefs, and whout subjectg gay persons to digni when they seek goods and servic an open market, ” the opn stat. “It’s about the right of gay people to receive equal service. A Belfast bakery n by evangelil Christians was not obliged to make a ke emblazoned wh the msage “support gay marriage”, the supreme urt has led, overturng a £500 damag award imposed on unanimo cisn by the UK’s hight urt was greeted as a victory for ee speech but nmned by gay rights groups and the Equaly Commissn of Northern Ireland as a backward step batg had refed to produce the ke, featurg the Same Street puppets Bert and Ernie, 2014 for Gareth Lee, who supports the mpaign to legalise same-sex marriage Northern Ireland.

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

He wanted to take to a private functn markg Internatnal Day Agast judgment, livered after the supreme urt’s first hearg Northern Ireland May, revers earlier cisns Belfast unty urt and a urt of appeal lg that the pany discrimated agast Lee, who is gay, on the grounds of sexual five jtic on the supreme urt – Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Hodge and Lady Black – found the bakery did not refe to fulfil Lee’s orr bee of his sexual orientatn and therefore there was no discrimatn on those grounds.

“The bakers uld not refe to supply their goods to Mr Lee bee he was a gay man or supported gay marriage, but that is que different om obligg them to supply a ke iced wh a msage wh which they profoundly disagreed. The US supreme urt reached a siar ncln another bakery se June, when led favour of a Colorado baker who had refed to produce a weddg ke for a gay uple the lg, Lee said: “I’m very nfed about what this actually means.

GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE

”The Rabow Project, Northern Ireland’s largt support anisatn for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people, exprsed s disappotment at the #Ashers lg is an historic and semal judgement.

”A spokperson for the gay rights anisatn Stonewall said: “This is a backward step for equaly which needs to be urgently addrsed. The cisn that Ashers bakery were not discrimatory the so-lled ‘gay ke’ row is very ncerng for anyone who r about equaly. As well as meang that Ashers nnot be legally forced to aid the promotn of same-sex marriage, also means that gay bakers nnot be pelled by law to rate k wh anti-gay marriage slogans.

U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REBUFFED GAY UPLE

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? Supreme Court on Monday hand a victory on narrow grounds to a Colorado baker who refed based on his Christian beliefs to make a weddg ke for a gay uple, stoppg short of settg a major precent allowg people to claim relig exemptns om anti-discrimatn jtic, a 7-2 cisn, said the Colorado Civil Rights Commissn showed an impermissible hostily toward relign when found that baker Jack Phillips vlated the state’s anti-discrimatn law by rebuffg gay uple David Mulls and Charlie Craig 2012.

The cisn also did not addrs important claims raised the se cludg whether bakg a ke is a kd of exprsive act protected by the Constutn’s ee speech of the urt’s four liberals, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, joed the five nservative jtic the lg thored by Jtice Anthony Kennedy, who also wrote the landmark 2015 cisn legalizg gay marriage baker se beme a cultural flashpot the Uned Stat, unrsrg the tensns between gay rights proponents and nservative sis claimed a measure of victory. The uple’s supporters noted that the lg embraced the importance of gay rights and ma clear that bs open to the public mt serve everyone.

GAY KE

“Our society has e to the regnn that gay persons and gay upl nnot be treated as social outsts or as ferr digny and worth, ” Kennedy Kennedy said the state missn’s hostily toward relign “was nsistent wh the First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied a manner that is ntral toward relign. ”Kennedy said the missn led the oppose way three s brought agast bakers which the bs owners refed to bake k ntag msag that meaned gay people or same-sex marriage. “The First Amendment prohibs ernments om discrimatg agast cizens on the basis of relig beliefs, ” Attorney General Jeff Ssns said a cisn ma clear that even if the urt ultimately l a future se that bakers or other bs that sell creative products such as florists and weddg photographers n avoid punishment unr anti-discrimatn laws, most bs open to the public would have no such the 50 stat, 21 cludg Colorado have anti-discrimatn laws protectg gay se marked a tt for Kennedy, who has thored signifint lgs that advanced gay rights but also is a strong advote for ee speech rights and relig eedom.

“The oute of s like this other circumstanc mt awa further elaboratn the urts, all the ntext of regnizg that the disput mt be rolved wh tolerance, whout undue disrpect to scere relig beliefs, and whout subjectg gay persons to digni when they seek goods and servic an open market, ” Kennedy a wrten dissent, Jtice Ruth Bar Gsburg, joed by fellow liberal Sonia Sotomayor, said what mattered was that Phillips would not provi a good or service to a same-sex uple that he would provi to a heterosexual ligatn, along wh siar s around the untry, was part of a nservative Christian backlash to the Supreme Court’s gay marriage lg.