Gareth Lee will appeal to the Court of Human Rights the ruling of an Irish court which ruled that the bakery in Northern Ireland had the right to refuse baking cake with a pro-gay marriage message.
Lawyers representing a man from Northern Ireland who sued a bakery for refusing to make a cake with a pro-homosexual marriage message go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to challenge the Supreme Court ruling, which stated that evangelical Christian bakery owners have the right to refuse baking.
Same-sex marriages in Ireland are still not recognised by law. This will change in October when Westminster imposes laws on Ireland that will make gay marriage legal
Lee in 2014 He learned from the bakery owners Ashers that they would not make a cake on his request with the words "support gay marriages" because it contradicts their religious beliefs. He brought the case to court and a battle began which is now to find the final in the ECHR.
Belfast District Courts and the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Lee, while the Irish Supreme Court repealed earlier decisions. five Supreme Court judges in 2018 stated that the bakery did not refuse to order Lee due to his sexual orientation, but due to his beliefs. He therefore ruled that there was no discrimination.
Lee's legal team now argues in the ECHR that the Supreme Court ruling should be repealed. “The point is that limited liability companies can in some way choose which clients will be serving,” the defendant says. It's a dangerous precedent. The ruling should not have legal power because there is no such thing as a “Christian business”.
Phoenix Law, Lee's law firm, will argue in Europe that the cake, which was later made by another baker, “was not displayed in the store window.
It was for personal use only and became its private property after payment and collection." Lee’s attorney, Ciaran Moynagh, added: “We fear that in this case the ruling allows any company, its shareholders or owners to break the rights of its consumer.
The Supreme Court ruling has blurred the border, created legal uncertainty for all of us in Northern Ireland, and the ECHR is the right place to explain this issue."
Same-sex marriages in Ireland are still not recognised by law. This will change in October when Westminster imposes laws on Ireland that will make gay marriage legal. To date, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly – the Democratic Unionists Party – was the main force blocking the equality of same-sex marriages.
Despite the strong position of the DUP in Westminster, where its parliamentarians support a minority conservative government, they were unable to block an equal approach to homosexual marriages in the House of Commons this summer, resulting in the imposition of new rules on Northern Ireland over and above two months.
Author: Katarzyna Kołbuś
Editor leading RB Magazine. From Over 10 years related to industry press, including the Financial Gazette and portal ipip.com.pl, which is devoted to finance, taxation, law, politics and the economy. She graduated from Polish philology at the UMCS and the linguistic text editing at the University of Warsaw