Charles Pigott explains how Christian bakers came unstuck over a “gay cake”
The facts in Lee v Ashers Baking Co Ltd and others [2015] NICty 2 took place just after the Northern Ireland Assembly had voted for the third time against same sex marriage in April 2014.
Gareth Lee had asked Ashers—a substantial bakery company run by a Christian couple Colin and Karen McArthur—to bake a cake to his own design. This was a service widely advertised by the company. His design incorporated a coloured picture of the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie, the logo of QueerSpace (a charity promoting LGBT rights) and the headline caption “Support Gay Marriage”. Although his order was at first accepted when he came into the shop, it was subsequently declined and his money refunded. Mrs McArthur said in evidence that the problem was the message on the cake, because as a Christian she did not support gay marriage.
The judge found that Mr and Mrs McArthur knew that Mr Lee was gay or associated with
