Baker refusing to make cake for gay couple

The case dealt with Masterpiece Cakeshop, a bakery in Lakewood, Colorado, which refused to design a custom wedding cake for a gay couple based on the owner's religious beliefs. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission evaluated the case under the state's anti-discrimination law, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. A Colorado baker who had won a narrow U.S. Supreme Court victory over his refusal to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on Thursday lost his appeal of a ruling in a separate case that he.

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a baker in Colorado who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Two Christian bakers in Oregon who faced a $, fine for refusing to bake a cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding in received a partial victory in court Wednesday. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a local baker in Colorado was within his rights to refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex couple's wedding, but it did not go beyond this case.

At the time, same-sex marriage was still illegal in Northern Ireland, but the law has since changed and same-sex weddings have been taking place since February Rival demonstrations were held in support of both sides in the case.

Appeal court judges said that, under law, the bakers were not allowed to provide a service only to people who agreed with their religious beliefsexternal. He said that after ordering the cake and paying for it, only to be told two days later that his order had been rejected: "It made me feel unworthy, a lesser person. But the opinion was a narrow one, applying to the specific facts of this case only.

This clause would allow businesses to refuse to provide some services if they clashed with their strongly-held religious convictions. What happened in court? Skip to Content. Mr Lee then took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, where it was examined by seven judges who decided, by majority, that it should be dismissed. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Graphic artist Lorie Smithwho is also from Colorado and is also represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, challenged the same state law in the Creative case that was decided by the U.

The firm then took the case to the Supreme Court and they won. A reasonable person would assume that the cake expressed the message of the couple, not the baker, the courts said. Gareth Lee sued Christian-run Ashers bakery for refusing to make a cake decorated with the slogan "Support Gay Marriage". At the time, same-sex marriage was still illegal in Northern Ireland, but the law has since changed and same-sex bakers refusing to make cake for gay couple have been taking place since February A demonstration in support of the bakery's stance was staged at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.

It gave no hint as to how the court might decide future cases involving florists, bakers, photographers and other business owners who have cited religious and free-speech objections when refusing to serve gay and lesbian customers in the wake of the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. What about the bakery? The Belfast man has long argued that by refusing to fulfil his order, the bakery had discriminated against him on grounds of his sexual orientation and political beliefs.

During the hearings, a lawyer for the bakery argued the issue was "the cake, not the customer".

Gay cake case

Supreme Court recently held in Creative v. After Colorado's Civil Rights Commission said that Phillips could not discriminate by refusing to make cakes for same-sex weddings, he chose to stop baking wedding cakes for all customers, which he said cost him about 40 percent of his business. The commission supported Mr Lee in taking his legal case alleging discrimination. However, Peter Tatchell, a prominent LGBT rights campaigner, said he strongly disagreed with Ashers opposition to same-sex marriage and had "great sympathy for Mr Lee but that he did not believe Ashers had discriminated against him.

He added "I think the Equality Commission has very serious questions that they need to answer. Share Save. It has 47 judges - one from each country - but only a small number rule on each case. Get more news Live on.