Shock win at Supreme Court in Ashers Bakery discrimination case
The UK Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Ashers, the Belfast bakery owned by evangelical Christians who in 2014 refused to bake a cake featuring a slogan in support of same-sex marriage.
The customer, Gareth Lee, said their action was discriminatory and the bakery was taken to court by the Equality Commission. Ashers was ordered to pay £500 in damages for breaching anti-discrimination laws, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Now the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the owners. In a judgment delivered today, Lady Hale said: 'The bakers did not refuse to fulfil [Lee's] order because of his sexual orientation. They would have refused to make such a cake for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation....
