Do you remember the story about the Christian bakery that refused to make a cake with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’?
The customer (Gareth Lee) took Ashers Baking Company Ltd to court, claiming discrimination. The Northern Ireland County Court upheld the claim, as did the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal.
But the case has now been heard at the Supreme Court, with Lady Hale giving the lead judgment, who overturned the previous findings and determined that there was NO discrimination.
This article explores why.
The first issue the Court considered was whether refusing to bake the cake was direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006
While it is probably safe to infer that the customer ordering the cake was gay, the Supreme Court held that the bakery had a problem with the message on the cake, not with the sexual orientation of Mr. Lee. It was therefore decided that refusing the order for the cake was NOT direct discrimination against him.
Next, the Court looked at discrimination due to political opinion under the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. This legislation covers Northern Ireland only. (In the rest of the UK, the Equality Act protects you from discrimination against your religious or philosophical beliefs, but not political opinion.)
Lady Hale stated that the answer was probably the same as for the sexual orientation issue, namely that the discrimination was against the message and not the person.
The Court also explored the rights to freedom of religion and belief and freedom of expression in accordance with the European Convention of Human Rights.
It held that freedom of expression includes the freedom NOT to express a belief. It was therefore decided that it would be against the bakers’ human rights as Christians, to be forced to bake a cake displaying a message that was against their beliefs.
What this decision means to you
As you can see, discrimination cases are complex. Not everyone agrees with the Supreme Court ruling, but it is clear the law is designed to cover people with protected characteristics a list of which can be found here.
If you are gay, rest assured that businesses can’t refuse to provide you with services, and your employer can’t discriminate against you, on the grounds of your sexual orientation.
If you think you’ve been discriminated against, give us a call for an informal chat. We will let you know if we think you have a case, and what you can do about it.
For more on this subject, see our previous article: Belfast’s gay marriage cake update
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