Bakery Ordered to Make Gay Bert and Ernie Wedding Cake or
Face Court Case
by Warner Todd Huston 6 Nov 2014
A Christian-owned baking company in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland was told by authorities to make a
gay-themed Sesame Street wedding cake and apologize or face a court order and
possible jail time for refusing to make the cake, reports say.
Ashers Baking Co. reportedly refused to make a cake
featuring Sesame
Street characters Bert and Ernie
arm-in-arm above a banner that was to say "support gay marriage."
Authorities said that the refusal to make the cake is "unlawful religious,
political and sexual orientation discrimination" against the gay
customers.
The baking company reused to make the cake in May of this
year because it would be against the company owners' religious beliefs.
"Daniel McArthur, general manager of the firm, said it
would amount to endorsing the campaign for the introduction of same-sex
marriage, and go against his conscience," the UK Telegraph
reported on
November 5.
Not long afterward the customer, Gareth Lee, complained to
Britain's Equality Commission. The commission then sent a letter to the bakery
threatening legal action unless the company made the cake, apologized to the
customer, and paid "immediate compensation."
The commission also sent a 16-page letter to the central
government saying that it had determined that the bakery had violated equality
laws and must compensate the customer for having upset him.
"This letter... is to be understood as a letter of
claim which, in the absence of both an immediate acknowledgement that there has
been an unlawful breach of the equality laws set out above and an unconditional
offer of adequate recompense to Mr. Lee, will be followed by litigation,"
the letter states.
But Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian
Institute, says that the commission's stance is illogical. "If supporting
same-sex marriage is a protected political opinion, so is supporting
traditional marriage. Yet the Commission clearly favors one view over another
and is prepared to litigate to prove it," he said.
The McArthur family, though, say they are being unfairly
attacked for their religious beliefs. "We feel that the Equality
Commission are pursuing us because of our beliefs that marriage is between a
man and a woman."
The McArthurs also said that they intend to hold to their
deeply held religious principles. They will not make the cake, nor will they
apologize to the jilted customer.
Several bakeries in the US have already faced similar
attacks. In one case, bakery owner Jack Phillips was told to
serve gay clients in Colorado despite that doing would violate his
religious beliefs.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street
is a program for the Sesame Workshop.
Note: Vincent A. Mai is
a trustee at the Sesame Workshop,
and an overseer at the International Rescue Committee.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is a
board member for the International
Crisis Group.
Samantha
Power was a director at the International
Rescue Committee, a board member for the International Crisis Group, Barack
Obama’s aide, and is the United
Nations U.S. ambassador.
Kofi
A. Annan was the secretary general for the United Nations, is an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Morton I. Abramowitz
was an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
George J. Mitchell
was the chair emeritus for the International
Crisis Group, and a U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland
is a member of the United Kingdom.
Mark
Malloch-Brown was the minister of state for the United Kingdom, a political correspondent for The Economist, and is a co-chair for the International Crisis Group.
Andrew
S.B. Knight was an editor for The
Economist, and the CEO for the Daily
Telegraph.
David Miliband
was the foreign secretary; secretary of state for the environment; minister for
schools for the United Kingdom, a
member of the House of Commons, the president-elect
for the International Rescue Committee,
and is the president & CEO for the International
Rescue Committee.
House of Commons
The UK public elects 650 Members
of Parliament (MPs) to represent their interests and concerns in the House of
Commons. MPs consider and propose new laws, and can scrutinise government
policies by asking ministers questions about current issues either in the
Commons Chamber or in Committees.
Winston
Churchill II was a member of the House
of Commons, and a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.
Vincent
A. Mai is an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and a trustee at the Sesame Workshop.
Sesame Street
is a program for the Sesame Workshop.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
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