[kirklancaster]

I actually used the Cake Shop incident as an example, but it is wrong to say that this thread is specifically confined to the Cake shop case in Ireland only, or confined to businesses only, because the actual thread title is: "Ukip offers legal protection to Christians who oppose same-sex marriage", and the text from the article quoted in the OP includes:

"The manifesto says: “We will not repeal the legislation, as it would be grossly unfair and unethical to ‘un-marry’ loving couples or restrict further marriages, but we will not require churches to marry same-sex couples. We will also extend the legal concept of ‘reasonable accommodation’ to give protection in law to those expressing a religious conscience in the workplace on this issue.”

So comment regarding Gay Marriages in Churches and other Religious places of worship is fair comment and should NOT be dissmissed by other FM's.

In any event, I have now been researching more into this case and several notable points place a new perspective on it and render it far more than any simple 'open and shut' case of discrimination and homophobia:

1) Gareth Lee - the man who placed the order for the cake is a Gay Rights activist and a volunteer member of the LGBT advocacy group Queer Space.
(Which to me explains just WHY this case ever materialised in the first place.)

2) 'Ashers' the Christian-Run bakery at the heart of the case is a family business owned by the McArthurs.

3) It was established that "Ashers serve gay customers in their shop on a daily basis"

(Which to me dispels any notions that the McArthurs are 'homophobic'.)

4) David Scoffield, QC for Ashers, said: "The defendants neither knew nor cared about Mr Lee's sexual orientation or his religious beliefs, if any, or his political opinions.

4)The QC added; that the refusal had been down to the content of the cake and was not connected to any characteristic of the customer.

(Which to me says that had Lee not ordered a cake with the slogan and motif on it there would have been no problem.)

5) "If a heterosexual couple had placed the same order they would have got the same response" Ashers QC tells court.

6) This is plainly not a sexual orientation case" Mr Scoffield QC for Ashers says.

7) "The problem was with the message on the cake. As a Christian I do not support gay marriage" Karen McArthur

8) Ashers QC asks "When the McArthurs put on their bakers apron must they put aside their religious beliefs, the very core of who they are?"

9) "Once a genuine case of 'Conscientious Objection' is established the state is obliged to protect the rights of the objectors" says Ashers QC.

(See my post below on 'The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights' which for me bearts out that 'Ashers' were within their LAWFUL rights to refuse the order.)

10) Ashers QC says if businesses are forced to produce goods against their religious beliefs it would "allow the malicious to stir up trouble"

11) The QC adds: "When individuals are forced to produce goods promoting a cause with which they strongly disagree, that is the antithesis to democracy"

12) Ashers' QC David Scoffield says Mr Lee's "perception of the reason" his order was refused is "irrelevant".

13) QC says he doesn't "want to minimise the hurt the plaintiff says he feels" but suggests Mr Lee was perhaps being "over sensitive"

(I bet!)

14) QC for Ashers tells judge the issue isn't how much sympathy there is for Mr Lee but must be determined objectively & dispassionately.

15) A barrister for Christian-run County Antrim firm Ashers said if they lost the discrimination case there would be wide-reaching consequences for shop owners.

16) He said it would mean a Muslim printer could not refuse to print a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

(Think about this deeply.)

17) The 'Equality Commission has set aside a fund of up to £40,000 to pay for legal costs in the case.

(What a huge waste of money on such a trivial matter which common sense could have avoided.)

Further;

'1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights'

In 1948, the issue of the right to "conscience" was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It reads: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour, 0 against, with 8 abstentions.

I believe that local Gay Activist Gareth Lee probably had local knowledge that 'Ashers' were devout hard-line Christians, and deliberately placed his order there suspecting that it would be refused, so he could 'over-react' and then make it a 'cause célèbre' of a 'Test Case' around the time of the commemoration of 'The International Day Against Homophobia' last May.

Having read quite a few articles now, I am amazed that anyone deemed there to even be a Prima Facie case here. IMHO.