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
• I’VE CHANGED MY MD ON THE GAY KE ROW. HERE’S WHY
• 'GAY KE' ROW: BORN-AGA CHRISTIAN BAKERS LOSE URT APPEAL
• BAKERY THAT REFED TO BAKE KE WH GAY SLOGAN LOS N. IRELAND SE
• THE MORAL OF THE GAY WEDDG KE ROW: THE LAW N’T CREATE TOLERANCE
• ASHERS 'GAY KE': MAN REFED KE BY BAKERY HAS DISCRIMATN SE THROWN OUT
• BELFAST BAKERS 'WOULD HAVE SNED' IF THEY MA GAY MARRIAGE KE
• GAY MARRIAGE KE: CTOMER TAK SE TO EUROPEAN URT
• 'GAY KE': ASHERS BAKERY SE HEARD AT SUPREME COURT
• ‘GAY KE’ PLAT LED ADMISSIBLE BY EUROPEAN URT
• BELFAST BAKERY WAS FREE TO REFE GAY-MARRIAGE CAKE, COURT RUL
• EUROPEAN COURT L NORTHERN IRELAND GAY KE SE ADMISSIBLE
• UK SUPREME URT BACKS BAKERY THAT REFED TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE KE
• NORTHERN IRELAND HAS A ‘GAY KE’ NTROVERSY, TOO
• NORTHERN IRELAND "GAY CAKE" SE - SUPREME COURT SIS WH BAKERY
• EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE NORTHERN IRELAND ‘GAY KE’ DISCRIMATN SE

'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? 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.

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

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. 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.

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. A bakery Northern Ireland owned by evangelil Christians has lost an appeal to overturn a nvictn that found guilty of discrimatn for refg to bake a pro-gay-marriage themed urt of appeal Belfast on Monday upheld a prev judgment last year that Ashers Bakery had discrimated agast a ctomer on the grounds of sexual fay-owned firm the origal se was also orred to pay £500 pensatn to the lol gay rights activist Gareth Lee, whose legal actn was backed by the Equaly Commissn for Northern had tried to buy a ke pictg the Same Street characters Bert and Ernie below the motto ‘Support gay marriage’ for an event to mark Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia Ashers se has received ternatnal attentn, and highlighted the tensns between gay rights reformers and the polilly fluential and socially nservative born-aga Christian lobby wh Northern three appeal judg on Monday were Northern Ireland’s lord chief jtice, Sir Declan Man, and Lord Jtic Weathep and liverg their judgment, Man rejected the argument of lawyers for Daniel McArthur and his fay that the bakery would have been endorsg gay marriage equaly by bakg the ke. The party has nsistently blocked proposals the assembly om other parti cludg their ma partners ernment, Sn Fé, to legalise gay a four-day hearg at the urt of appeal Belfast earlier this year, lawyers for the McArthur fay said they challenged the fdg bee their ey would have been sful for them to plete the their legal battle to overturn the lg, the McArthur fay won the support of Northern Ireland’s attorney general, John Lark the hearg May, the attorney general argued urt that the McArthur fay was entled to nstutnal protectn for turng down a ctomer’s orr based on their personal relig beliefs.

'GAY KE' ROW: BORN-AGA CHRISTIAN BAKERS LOSE URT APPEAL

Followg Monday’s lg one of the ma gay rights anisatns Northern Ireland weled the judg’ O’Doherty, the director of the Rabow Project, said: “Ashers Bakg Company entered to a ntractual agreement to make this ke and then changed their md. To my md, a better parallel would be the Catholic Herald refg to publish an anti-Catholic gay marriage is still illegal Northern Ireland is a grim ment on Bra’s long and petent ctodianship of Ulster’s ernment.

BAKERY THAT REFED TO BAKE KE WH GAY SLOGAN LOS N. IRELAND SE

The effect was to rtore native Amerin practic, but also to licence state legislatur to allow discrimatn agast gay marriag on grounds of is adamant that the secular law mt enjoy primacy any morn society. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Strasbourg, north-eastern France, has led agast the Northern Ireland gay rights activist Gareth Lee, scribg his applitn as "admissible", a statement released this morng says. "We believe this leav an ambiguy whereby dividuals and anisatns across Europe actively mpaigng on gay rights would be particularly 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'.

A Christian uple Northern Ireland who refed to bake a ke wh a pro-gay marriage msage would have mted a s if they had ma , their lawyer has told an appeal McArthur fay, who n Ashers bakery Belfast, are appealg agast a urt lg last year that found them guilty of discrimatn agast a gay ctomer on the grounds of sexual 2014 Ashers refed to make a ke wh a picture of Same Street figur Bert and Ernie along wh a support gay marriage rights activist Gareth Lee, a member of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr advocy group Queer Space, then reported the bakery to the Equaly Commissn Northern uple’s barrister, David Sffield QC, told the three judg at the appeal Belfast on Monday that the gay marriage msage was nsistent wh the fay’s eply held relig said the McArthurs would have regard themselv as havg mted a s if they had baked the ke. Lawyers reprentg a man om Northern Ireland who sued a bakery for refg to make a ke wh pro-gay marriage msage are gog to Europe to challenge a supreme urt lg that s evangelil Christian owners had a right to refe to bake .

THE MORAL OF THE GAY WEDDG KE ROW: THE LAW N’T CREATE TOLERANCE

Belfast human rights law firm Phoenix Law nfirmed on Thursday had been stcted by Gareth Lee to take his se to the European urt of human rights (ECHR) was told by Ashers bakery 2014 that would not make a ke wh the msage “Support Gay Marriage” on bee was ntrary to the owners’ relig years later the supreme urt reversed earlier cisns at Belfast unty urt and urt of appeal that Ashers had discrimated agast Lee on the grounds of him beg judg on the supreme urt, which 2018 sat for the first time Northern Ireland, found that the bakery did not refe Lee’s orr bee of his sexual orientatn.

They led therefore that there was no discrimatn on those Lee’s legal team are now argug the ECHR that the supreme urt lg should be overturned bee bakg the ke did not imply “the bakery supportg (exprsly or implicly) the msage of the ke” lawyers ntend that no reasonable person would equate producg the ke for an dividual private ctomer wh the bakery supportg the pro-gay marriage msage on .

ASHERS 'GAY KE': MAN REFED KE BY BAKERY HAS DISCRIMATN SE THROWN OUT

”Belfast bakery ws gay ke discrimatn lg – vioLee’s lawyer Ciaran Moynagh add: “We’re ncerned the lg this se allows any pany, s shareholrs or owners to hold relig or polil views and those views tmp the rights of s ctomers. “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 five judg the ntroversy first flared up, Northern Ireland was still the only part of the UK where same-sex marriage was not regnised law.

Image ptn, The ke was orred four years ago by gay rights activist Gareth LeeThe owners of a Northern Ireland bakery found to have discrimated for refg to make a "gay ke" were forced to act agast their relig beliefs, the Supreme Court has Bakery is challengg the lg over s cisn not to make a ke iced wh the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" for activist Gareth Lee.

"Mr and Mrs McArthur have been penalised by the state, the form of the judgment at the unty urt, for failg through their fay pany to create and provi a product bearg an explic slogan 'Support Gay Marriage' to which they have a genue objectn source, AFPImage ptn, Ashers owner Daniel McArthur has argued that the ke's msage was agast their relig views"They would equally have refed to provi that ke wh the slogan to a heterosexual ctomer. Tuday marks the latt legal chapter the long-nng se that began May 2014 when the orr was placed at an Ashers shop Belfast by Gareth Lee, a gay rights refed to bake the ke but was later found to have discrimated agast Mr barrister, Rob Allen QC, said he "knew nothg at all" about Mr and Mrs McArthur's relig beliefs when he placed the Allen listed a range of imag which Ashers had advertised on a flier that would ice on k, cludg a wch for Halloween, a photograph of a person or "a picture of Larne Ladi Football Club".

BELFAST BAKERS 'WOULD HAVE SNED' IF THEY MA GAY MARRIAGE KE

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 MARRIAGE KE: CTOMER TAK SE TO 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.

“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. 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.

'GAY KE': ASHERS BAKERY SE HEARD AT SUPREME COURT

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. 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.

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.

‘GAY KE’ PLAT LED ADMISSIBLE BY EUROPEAN URT

“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. However, the culture wars have gaed a twist their journey across the suatn Northern Ireland trac back to a cisn by Christian-owned Ashers Bakg Company, based County Antrim, to ncel a requt to supply a ke for gay activist Gareth Lee.

In the Uned Stat, the issue has mostly been about weddg k at gay weddgs: Consir the 2013 se Colorado, when a urt led that Masterpiece Cakhop was discrimatg agast a gay uple by refg to provi a ke for their weddg, or the siar se Oregon last year. Memori Pizza Indiana only stoked a natnwi ntroversy earlier this year when publicly announced that would not ter gay weddgs due to the owners' relig se Northern Ireland, however, was not about a weddg ke.

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

This cint did not go to urt, of the more parable s that did prompt legal actn is that of Azuvar Bakery Colorado, where a urt agreed that the owners did not discrimate agast a ctomer when they refed to make a ke wh anti-gay msag. Durg the urt se Dubl, Ashers Bakg Company had tried to argue that had not discrimated agast Lee bee he was gay, and that was not his personal sexual preference that led the bakery to refe to make the ke, but the msage on the ke.

EUROPEAN COURT L NORTHERN IRELAND GAY KE SE ADMISSIBLE

If Ashers had simply refed to sell any ke at all to Mr Lee or any other LGBT person, then that would be an obv act of make thgs even more plited, the lg also fs to the ntroversial polics of gay marriage of Northern Ireland, where the Democratic Unnist Party, a socially nservative unnist party wh strong lks to Prottant church, recently blocked a plan to legalize gay marriage Northern Ireland (the Republic of Ireland will host a referendum on gay marriage this week).

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

You n refe a service based on your beliefs (ie I'll give you a ke, but not a ke wh a slogan I don't believe ), but what if fg that service mak a direct discrimatn of the ctomer (ie you won't allow a gay uple to share a room a hotel, they n 2 rooms, but not share)?? From my unrstandg, homophobia is havg a prejudice agast LGBTQ a discrimatory manner but if someone were to say "You are fully wh your right to be gay but I don't agree wh bee of X" then is that nsired homophobia? From my unrstandg, homophobia is havg a prejudice agast LGBTQ a discrimatory manner but if someone were to say "You are fully wh your right to gay but I don't agree wh bee of X" then is that nsired homophobia?

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND HAS A ‘GAY KE’ NTROVERSY, TOO

”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. FILE PHOTO: Daniel McArthur general manager of Ashers bakery volved a "gay ke" legal dispute arriv at a Supreme Court hearg Lagansi urts BelfastBELFAST (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.

NORTHERN IRELAND "GAY CAKE" SE - SUPREME COURT SIS WH BAKERY

EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE NORTHERN IRELAND ‘GAY KE’ DISCRIMATN SE