The gay cake ruling

[#1]

Reading this.. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37746009?client=ms-android-huawei.

It strikes me that the baker may have a counter argument that he is being discriminated against because of his religion. I know I couldn't walk into a kosher butchers and demand a kilo of pork chops!

The decent thing for Mr Lee to do is to say "I don't agree with you but I respect your right to your opinion". I'm not gay but I do have lots of gay friends, male and Female (and one who can't make up his/her mind), and not one agrees that this man has been discriminated against. The general consensus is that this is a money grabbing enterprise.

[#2]

All part of the "fair and equal" society we live in, where we can't have a fair and equal right to refuse service because of fair and equal groups who pressure the laws to be changed to be fair and equal in their favour.............

All very Soviet Russia, where everyone's equal, except those who were more equal than others...

[#3]

I wonder what Mr Lee's opinion is, of say an in your face advert poking fun at dancing gay builders and cross dressers?

[#4]

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav)

Post removed by request

[#5]

The story says it all.

Gareth Lee was in my opinion being purposely vexatious against an easy target. As a gay rights activist he knew this was a contentious issue and spun it for as much as it was worth - and in Northern Ireland of all places!

This is not just about Christian conscience, this is about common sense and the rights of everybody - not just a vociferous minority and I'm with Mr McArthur one hundred percent on this. 

This Mr Lee should go pedal his opinions and appeals elsewhere. How about Saudi Arabia?

 

[#6]

Mr Lee knew exactly what he was doing and how far he could go. 

Just imagine the poo storm had he gone in a bakery owned by a Muslim and demanded the same thing. The man does his cause no favours, he just gets people's backs up. 

[#7]

For millions of years humans have accepted that everyone is different, but in the past half a century, there have been so many groups who insist we put them on a pedestal because they're different, yeah, there's gay people in this world, that's acknowledged, but, do we really have to get down on our hands & knees and beg for forgiveness for their choice to advertise they're different?

It's just one person stirring up hate towards what they believe in, if they didn't stir so damned much, then the world would be a more peaceful place...

[#8]

And the follow up is, Ashers have lost their appeal:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37748681

The free world people, the free world.................

[#9]

Time to bite my tongue on this subject then. 

[#10]

Holding back one's opinions means that they are oppressing the right to opinion and free speech, so in their bid for their own fair rights, they are discriminating against others beliefs, both directly and indirectly...

[#11]

Mr Lee is not asking the Ashers to indulge in gay sex nor are they asking them to the gay wedding. He asking a baking business to produce a legal product under secular UK law. The Ashers think their religious beliefs override the law of this country. It is a bit like the supporters of sharia law.

[#12]

Is it not a bit like asking them to put "Liverpool FC" on a cake while the baker supports Everton? Would they have refused to do that?

Either way I think Mr Lee could have just found somewhere else to spend his money than start court proceedings

[#13]

At the time of the denied request to make the cake, there were heightened political, social and religious tensions over gay marriage, and Ashers, rightly doing so, rejected supporting something that would have likely led a physical backlash against them and their business by other "activist" groups who were opposing gay marriage, so to prevent such damage to their business, they respectfully declined to offer their services. Bear in mind that where they are located is in highly christian territory, and not every christian is as peaceful as some would like to believe...

[#14]

I wouldn't normally link to the Guardian but this typifies my opinion https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/01/gay-cake-row-i-changed-my-mind-ashers-bakery-f...

The judge concluded that service providers are required to facilitate any “lawful” message, even if they have a conscientious objection. This raises the question: should Muslim printers be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed? Or Jewish ones publish the words of a Holocaust denier? Or gay bakers accept orders for cakes with homophobic slurs? If the Ashers verdict stands it could, for example, encourage far-right extremists to demand that bakeries and other service providers facilitate the promotion of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim opinions. It would leave businesses unable to refuse to decorate cakes or print posters with bigoted messages.

[#15]

Sadly, that Guardian quote hits the nail square on the head, it is exactly what this case will cause unless judges smarten up their act and understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...