Gay cake row bakery to appeal discrimination ruling
By Will Stroude
The Christian-run bakery that was ruled to have discriminated against a gay customer after it refused to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan has announced it will appeal last week’s judgment (May 19).
The McArthur family, who run Ashers Bakery Company, have now offically announced that they will challenge the ruling – as was widely expected.
They said in a statement: “After much careful and prayerful consideration given to legal advice, we have decided to appeal the judgement handed down last Tuesday.
“We continue to insist that we have done nothing wrong as we have discriminated against no individual, but rather acted according to what the Bible teaches regarding marriage.”
During the ruling, the judge said the while the McArthurs hold “genuine deeply held religious beliefs” government regulations “protect people from having their sexual orientation used for having their business turned down.”
She went on to say that “The defendants are not a religious organisation. They conduct a business for profit. There are no exceptions available.”
Yesterday, it was reported that the bakery was refusing to make wedding or special-order cakes of any kind in the wake of the judgement, saying they would limit their range of celebration cakes to just birthdays and babies for the foreseeable future.
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