The unanimous decision by the five justices of the Supreme Court on 10 October was greeted as a victory for free speech.
They ruled that Ashers, the Belfast bakery, was not obliged to make a cake emblazoned with the message ‘support gay marriage’. If anyone needed clarification that this case was about a message and not about discriminating against a person, Daniel McArthur of Ashers ended his statement outside the court saying Mr Lee ‘will always be welcome in one of our shops’.
The case started in 2014 when gay rights activist, and regular customer, Gareth Lee placed an order for a cake costing £36.50 with a ‘support gay marriage’ message on it. When two days later Ashers contacted him to refund his money explaining that they could not support that message, he sued the company for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs. After taking Ashers to court, then to appeal, and going to the Supreme Court, the people of Northern Ireland now face a £450,000 legal bill, as Mr Lee’s case was publicly funded by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI). The ECNI said the ruling was a backward step in combating discrimination.
Not guilty
In the judgment, Lady Hale was clear that discrimination against a person is wrong, but that Ashers were not guilty of this. She said: ‘It does the project of equal treatment no favours to seek to extend it beyond its proper scope’. In line with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, there is the right ‘not to express an opinion which one does not hold’. She continued: ‘This court has held that nobody should be forced to…express a political opinion in which he does not believe.’
It is unclear whether those backing Mr Lee will go to the European court to appeal this decision. With all the justices in agreement, and Article 10 in place, the ruling is unlikely to be overturned.
Not bigots
Questions have been raised as to the reason why the ECNI took on the case in 2014. If it was impartially looking at equality issues, then it would have seen this was not an incident of discrimination against a person which is what the equality legislation aims to tackle. The orientation of the customer was irrelevant.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Andrew Pierce, himself a gay man in a civil partnership, said of Daniel and Amy McArthur: ‘I know what bigots look like... and it’s not the couple I met.’ He wrote: ‘[they are] proud to serve Catholics and Protestants. And gays and lesbians. Transgender customers too. But they draw a line at being used in a political game.’
Sources close to the case expressed concern that perhaps Mr Lee had been used as a pawn by the organisations supporting him. Mr Lee said he was confused by the ruling, and the ‘implications for myself and for every single person’. But, as many noted, the ruling means everyone’s freedom has been protected, as no-one will have to print, produce, promote, or bake messages with which they disagree.
What the implications will be for other people where beliefs may be compromised in their employment is yet to be seen. This is uncharted territory, with no legally certain predictions.
Daniel’s full statement
‘I want to start by thanking God. He has been with us during the challenges of the last four years. Through the Bible and the support of Christians, He has comforted us and sustained us. He is our rock and all his ways are just.
‘We’re delighted and relieved at today’s ruling. We always knew we hadn’t done anything wrong in turning down this order. After more than four years, the Supreme Court has now recognised that and we’re very grateful. Grateful to the judges and especially grateful to God.
‘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.
‘The judges have given a clear signal today. In fact, it couldn’t be clearer. Family businesses like ours are free to focus on giving all their customers the best service they can without being forced to promote other people’s campaigns.
‘I know a lot of people will be very glad of this ruling today, because this ruling protects freedom of speech and freedom of conscience for everyone.
‘On behalf of my family can I say thank you to everyone who has helped us and supported us and prayed for us through all of this. I do want also to thank the whole legal team for all of the work that they have put in over the last four years. And also, to thank the entire Christian Institute staff for their help and support especially Simon Calvert, Sam Webster and Callum Webster.
‘We want to move on from this now, and I’m sure Mr Lee does as well. And let me finish by saying he’ll always be welcome in any of our shops. Thank you.’
