{"id":8575,"date":"2015-05-19T12:17:22","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T11:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=8575"},"modified":"2015-05-19T12:26:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T11:26:04","slug":"ashers-bakery-guilty-of-discriminating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/ashers-bakery-guilty-of-discriminating\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashers Bakery guilty of ‘discriminating’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Politically-motivated cake was baked by another firm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A judge in Belfast has found<\/a><\/strong> that a bakery discriminated\u00a0against a homosexual by refusing to bake a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n

Ashers Baking Company, which is owned and run by the McArthur family, who are Christians, declined an order from a gay rights activist asking for a cake featuring the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie with a slogan saying \u2018Support Gay Marriage\u2019.<\/p>\n

Marriage between people of the same sex is illegal in Northern Ireland. \u00a0In April 2014 the Stormont Assembly\u00a0rejected a Sinn Fein motion<\/a><\/strong> to change the definition of marriage for the third time in eighteen months. \u00a0In April 2015 the Assembly rejected yet another Sinn Fein motion<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>for ‘gay marriage’.<\/p>\n

\"Gareth<\/a>
Gareth Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite that, the judge found Ashers Bakery had discriminated against one Gareth Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation as well as his political beliefs.<\/p>\n

The cake was baked and iced by another firm. \u00a0Cllr Andrew Muir (Alliance Party) cut the cake in an event held by ‘QueerSpace’ last year.<\/p>\n

Damages of \u00a3500 have already been agreed between the law firms representing Ashers and Mr Lee.<\/p>\n

The case was brought by Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission.<\/p>\n

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuiness\u00a0tweeted:\u00a0“Asher’s bakery judgement a good result for equality, gay people have for far too long been discriminated against. We and the law on their side.”<\/p>\n

But unionist politicians disagreed.<\/p>\n

DUP MLA Paul Givan, who has proposed that lawmakers in the Northern Ireland Assembly introduce a “conscience clause” as a result of the Ashers case, said many Christians would view the ruling as “an attack” on their religious convictions.<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/a>
Jim Allister MLA has condemned the ruling along with Democratic Unionist Party politicians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“What we cannot have is a hierarchy of rights, and today there’s a clear hierarchy being established that gay rights are more important than the rights of people to hold religious beliefs,” Mr Givan added.<\/p>\n

His party colleague David McIlveen tweeted: “Utterly sickened that a Christian owned business has been hauled over the coals for refusing to promote something that is not legal in NI.”<\/p>\n

Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said it was “a dark day for justice and religious freedom in Northern Ireland”.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside Belfast County Court ahead of the\u00a0ruling, Ashers general manager Daniel McArthur said: “We happily serve everyone but we cannot promote a cause that goes against what the Bible says about marriage.<\/p>\n

“We have tried to be guided in our actions by our Christian beliefs.”<\/p>\n

Christian campaigners will be looking not just to the Stormont Assembly but also to the UK Government to ensure business peoples’ Christian conscience is supported.<\/p>\n

See 11th July 2014:\u00a0Ashers Baking \u2018Discriminated\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)<\/strong>
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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge in Belfast has found that a bakery discriminated\u00a0against a homosexual by refusing to bake a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage. Ashers Baking Company, which is owned and run by the McArthur family, who are Christians, declined an order from a gay rights activist asking for a cake featuring the Sesame Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,11,86,184],"tags":[234,1485,1481,1480,15,1491,1490,1482,1489,1487,1488,1486,1484,1483],"class_list":["post-8575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-freedom","category-homosexuality-trans","category-secularism","category-uk-christian-constitution","tag-gay-marriage","tag-andrew-muir","tag-ashers-bakery","tag-ashjers","tag-christian-voice","tag-daniel-mcarthur","tag-david-mcilveen","tag-gareth-lee","tag-jim-allister","tag-martin-mcguiness","tag-paul-givan","tag-queerspace","tag-sinn-fein","tag-stormont-assembly"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t