Michael Arnheim looks at false analogies & illogicalities in the ‘gay wedding cake’ decisions
- Reviews the high-profile ‘gay marriage cake’ case.
- Highlights false analogies and illogicality in the chain of decisions.
- Concludes the Supreme Court made the right decision.
Are bakers legally obliged to make a cake bearing a slogan to which they have a fundamental religious objection? Whatever the bakers’ religion may be, it surely cannot be right to force them to promote a belief with which they fundamentally disagree. Nor should it matter what the objectionable slogan is. Otherwise the right to freedom of religion and the right to freedom of expression enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have no meaning. Yet, this is precisely the situation in which a Christian couple who owned a bakery in Belfast found themselves—until the matter came before the UK Supreme Court (UKSC).
Material facts
Colin and Karen McArthur (pictured), the proprietors of Ashers Baking Company in Belfast, were approached by Gareth Lee, a gay man, and asked to bake a cake iced with a slogan reading ‘Support Gay
