The Supreme Court have ruled that the refusal by Ashers bakery to make a cake with a slogan, "Support gay marriage" was not discriminatory.
The dispute began in 2014 when the customer, Mr Lee was contacted by the bakery to confirm they could not make the cake. The bakery said this was because the same-sex slogan was "inconsistent" with their religious beliefs. Mr Lee issued a claim for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs. The bakery lost the case and subsequent appeal.
The bakery claimed it would have refused the same order from a heterosexual customer and said the issue was with the slogan and not with the customer. On Wednesday the Supreme Court agreed and held it did not amount to discrimination based on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The president of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale ruled that the bakers did not refuse to fulfil his order because of his sexual orientation. "They would have refused to make such a cake for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation," she said. "Their objection was to the message on the cake, not to the personal characteristics of Mr Lee."
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