Christian bakery owners found guilty of discriminating against a gay man have said they are appealing against the court ruling to protect all family businesses with deeply held convictions.
The McArthur family’s refusal to bake the customer’s order for a cake bearing a pro-gay marriage slogan was ruled unlawful by Belfast County Court last year.
Arriving at Belfast High Court today for the start of the appeal, Daniel McArthur, 26, insisted the original ruling was wrong.
“We took issue with the message on the cake and not the customer, and as a family we do believe we should retain the freedom to decline business that would force us to promote a cause with which we profoundly disagree,” he said.
“As Christians we cannot simply switch off our faith when we enter the workplace on a Monday morning. To be a Christian at all is to strive to live for Christ in every corner of our lives.”
Gay rights activist Gareth Lee, a member of LGBT advocacy group Queer Space, had wanted a cake featuring Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’ for a private function marking International Day Against Homophobia in May 2014.
He paid in full when placing the order at Ashers’ Belfast branch, but two days later the company phoned to say it could not be processed.
The high-profile case was heard over three days last March.
Delivering her reserved judgment two months later, District Judge Isobel Brownlie found Ashers directly discriminated against Mr Lee who had been treated “less favourably”, contrary to the law.
The publicly funded Equality Commission initially asked the bakery in Royal Avenue to acknowledge it had breached legislation and offer “modest” damages, but proceeded with the court challenge when the firm refused.