A government agency has sued a Christian bakery in Ireland for refusing to make a marriage cake carrying the picture of Sesame Street duo Bert and Ernie along with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage.

Ashers Baking Co., which is based in Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland, cancelled the order for the novelty cake, as the idea of placing two male puppets arm in arm violated the religious beliefs of the company’s directors. The bakery believes that making the cake with the proposed slogan and the logo of QueerSpace, an LGBT rights group that the client is a part of, would lead to them endorsing a campaign for same-sex marriage, a notion that is not in tandem with their religious beliefs.

However, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland wrote a letter to the bakery saying it was breaking the law. The letter threatened the bakery’s directors to remedy the illegal discrimination within a week if they did not wish to be taken to court. According to the commission, the bakery had discriminated against the client on grounds of sexual orientation. But Christian Institute, which is backing the bakery, said that managers at the bakery are free to refuse the endorsement of any political campaign they like, reiterating that same-sex marriage is not yet legal in Northern Ireland.

Colin Hart, chief executive of Christian Institute, said, “This is a sign of things to come exactly as we predicted. The Government repeatedly failed to listen to members of the public, lawyers, constitutional experts, even its own MPs when they called for safeguards to protect those who back traditional marriage, especially those who work in the public sector.

Now this nonsense, more usually associated with the public sector, is being applied to the private sector. This means millions of ordinary people who do not agree with gay marriage face intimidation and the real threat of legal action from the forces of political correctness if they, out of conscience, decline to provide goods or services to campaign groups they do not agree with or support. It establishes a dangerous precedent about the power of the state over an individual, or business to force them to go against their deeply held beliefs.”

The client who placed the order with the bakery was not available for comment.

Photo Credit: AgendaNi Magazine