Case list Flashcards
Supreme Court, from Court of Appeal, from County Court
The Ashers Bakery, based in Belftast (NI), provides cakes. Mr Lee put in an order for a cake with instructions that a picture be iced on the cake of ‘Bert and Ernie’, symbols of QueerSpace, an organisation that supports same-sex marriage for which Mr Lee was a volunteer. The cake was to be headlined ‘support gay marriage.’
The order was taken by Mrs McArthur because she did not wish to embarrass Mr Lee over rejection at that time. Over the Following Weekend Mrs McArthur telephoned MR Lee to apologise and that the cake could not be completed because they are a Christian Business and that it should not have been accpeted in the first place, giving a full refund.
Mr Lee subsequently complained to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) about the cancellation of the order and it supported him in bringing a claim for direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of sexual oritenation, religious belief or political opinion under the Equality Act and The Fair Employment and Treatment Order (FETO) both of which are designed to prevent descrimination.
Legal Issue
- Whether it is unlawful descrimination… for a bakery to refuse to supply a cake with the message “support gay marriage” becuase of the sincere religious belief of its owners that gay marriage is inconsistant with Biblical teaching… If ‘YES’ are there any issues surrounding the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 9 and 10).
- Does the court have jurisdiction to hear the case
Ruling
By being required to make the cake the appellants were being required to express a message with which they deeply disagreed, the appellants rights under Article 9 and 10 meant the 1998 Order should not be read in a way to compel a message with which they disagree.
The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to determine an appeal brought from a Northern Ireland Court of Appeal decision.
