Two years ago, Belfast bakery Asher’s was asked by LGBT activist Gareth Lee to bake a cake for a private function marking the International Day Against Homophobia.
It was to feature Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street and bear the slogan: ‘Support Gay Marriage’. However, the bakery refused to make the order on religious grounds and was taken to court, where they were made pay £500 in damages to Lee.
However, the bakery is now beginning its appeal of this decision which was made last March according to RTÉ News.
Lee had said that the refusal to make the order made him feel like ‘a lesser person’ but owner Daniel McArthur maintains it was not done out of hatred:
“It was clear we did not hate anyone. We didn’t want to discriminate against anyone. We did what we did because of our Christian beliefs.’
Northern Ireland is currently the only part of Ireland and the UK where same-sex marriage is not yet legal, and two couples are currently going through the courts as part of a judicial review to change this.
