Gareth Lee v Ashers Baking Company – what is the gay cake row case?
The bakers who refused to make a Sesame Street-themed cake with a same-sex marriage slogan printed across it have won a Supreme Court ruling
THE bakers who refused to make a Sesame Street-themed cake with a same-sex marriage slogan won a Supreme Court ruling that they discriminated against the customer.
The "gay cake row" started in 2014 between Gareth Lee and Ashers Backing Company directors Daniel and Amy McArthur and went all the way to the UK's highest court.
What is the "gay cake" case and what have Bert and Ernie got to do with it?
Bert and Ernie are at the centre of the row because Gareth Lee asked Ashers Baking Company to make a Sesame Street cake in honour of Andrew Muir - North Ireland's first openly gay mayor.
General manager Daniel McArthur said with the slogan Mr Lee wanted the desired cake's "Support Gay Marriage" message in icing was"at odds with what the Bible teaches".
Ashers Baking Company itself is named after one of the 12 sons of the biblical patriarch Jacob.
Devout Christians all over the world showed their support for the baker's cause.
The Christian Institute backed the McArthur's family case, which they said "demonstrates the need for the law to reasonably accommodate family-run businesses with firmly-held beliefs."
Many labelled the Lee's case as a form of aggressive anti-Christian secularism.
The bakery's stance won the backing of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party.
The DUP attempted to introduce a law to allow religious groups to refuse to do business with people if they strongly object to their lifestyle.
What has happened in court?
The evangelical bakers have fought a lengthy legal battle battle bankrolled by the Christian Institute.
The case opened at Belfast high court in March in 2015 and a judge ruled the directors of Ashers had unlawfully discriminated against Gareth Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation and religious or political beliefs.
At the time Ashers Baking Company vs the Equality Commission had far-reaching implications for the competing rights of faith-based communities and homosexuals.
An appeal by the McArthurs was also rejected in 2016.
Northern Ireland’s Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan rejected their argument that the bakery would be agreeing with the slogan by baking the cake.
“The fact that a baker provides a cake for a particular team or portrays witches on a Halloween cake does not indicate any support for either,” he said.
The McArthurs then challenged the ruling at a Supreme Court hearing in May.
Five Supreme Court justices announced their decision in London on Wednesday.
Delivering the ruling, Supreme Court president Lady Hale said the couple did not refuse to make the cake because of Mr Lee's sexual orientation.
"Their objection was to the message on the cake, not to the personal characteristics of Mr Lee or anyone else with whom he was associated," she said.
What did the Equality Commission have to say about all this?
Northern Ireland has strict anti-discrimination laws .
The Equality Commission is required to support complainants who claim to have been discriminated against on the grounds of their religion, race, age, gender or sexuality.
This means that once Mr Lee had submitted his complaint against the McArthurs a court case was inevitable.
The commission and many in the Northern Ireland LGBT community believed that if a company was allowed to refuse to do business with any minority group, it would set a precedent which would allow others to discriminate.
What have the McArthurs said?
Speaking outside court after the ruling on Wednesday, the bakery's general manager, Daniel McArthur, who attended court with his wife Amy, said: "We're delighted and relieved at today's ruling.
"We always knew we hadn't done anything wrong in turning down this order.
"We're particularly pleased the Supreme Court emphatically accepted what we've said all along - we did not turn down this order because of the person who made it, but because of the message itself."
What has Garth Lee said?
Mr Lee, who was supported by Northern Ireland's Equality Commission, was also present for the latest ruling in the case, which has attracted enormous attention.
Speaking to the media after the ruling was announced, he said: "To me, this was never about a campaign or a statement.
"All I wanted was to order a cake in a shop that sold cakes to order.
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"I paid my money, my money was taken and then a few days later it was refused. That made me feel like a second-class citizen.
"I'm concerned not just for the implications for myself and other gay people, but for every single one of us."