Devout Christian baker in equal rights legal battle over refusal to make 'gay' cake
A CHRISTIAN baker is fighting for his faith in a courtroom battle over his refusal to make a “gay” cake.
Devout Daniel McArthur was asked by a gay rights activist to ice it with a design featuring Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie and bearing the slogan “support gay marriage”.
He refused on the ground that it would be against his religious beliefs.
And yesterday he found himself in Belfast County Court facing claims that he breached equal rights rules in a civil case which has furiously divided opinion in Northern Ireland, where gay marriage is not legal.
Mr McArthur told supporters he had placed his trust in God as he arrived for his legal battle yesterday.
Speaking before the hearing, Mr McArthur, 25, the general manager of Belfast-based Ashers Baking, said: “We just didn’t want to be forced to use our creative skills to help endorse and promote a campaign message that went against our sincerely held religious beliefs.
“There are obviously big issues at stake, not for just us, about things like freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.
"We don’t know what the outcome of the case will be but we do know that God is faithful and we place our trust in him.”
The row erupted last May after Mr McArthur’s mother Karen cancelled the £36.50 cake order from Gareth Lee, 45, of Belfast.
She told Mr Lee, who ordered it for a gay rights day event, that it went against the directors’ religious beliefs.
The case has sharply divided opinion in the province.
Democratic Unionists at Stormont have proposed a “conscience clause” in equality legislation but Sinn Fein is vowing to block the move.
The Equality Commission Northern Ireland says the firm’s stance breached equal rights rules.
But the 100-year-old bakery firm refuses to admit breaking the law and will not pay Mr Lee “modest” damages.
The Commission is supporting Mr Lee who told yesterday’s hearing he was left “shocked” when Mr McArthur’s mother Karen rang.
Mr Lee said: “It made me feel I’m not worthy, a lesser person and to me that was wrong.
"The message was an extremely difficult one for me to accept.”
When he first placed the order no one had objected, he added.
Mr McArthur and his wife Amy, 25, who met while they were working as missionaries in the Philippines, looked on in silence as Mr Lee’s barrister Robin Allen told the hearing that simply baking a cake would not imply the bakers supported gay marriage.
Mr Allen said some had portrayed Ashers, named after the son of Jacob in the Bible, as “David” and the Equality Commission as “Goliath.”
But he added that as the bakery was a £1million-a-year international enterprise, “you might say Mr Lee was David and Ashers Goliath”.
Mr McArthur and his mother are due to give evidence today.
