In a victory for LGBT rights, a judge ruled in favour of the activist turned away by the Christian-run Ashers bakery.
A Belfast court has ruled that the owners of the Ashers bakery were guilty of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake endorsing same-sex marriage.
Charles Mcquillan / Getty Images
District judge Isobel Brownlie delivered her 70-minute verdict to a packed courtroom this morning following a three-day hearing in March.
The bakery, in Newtonabbey, County Antrim, was accused of discrimination after declining the business of Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist, who had ordered a cake with the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" featuring the characters Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.
The Northern Ireland Equality Commission took the bakery to Belfast County Court on behalf of Lee, who volunteers with Queer Space, a gay rights group. It claimed that the refusal of Lee's business by Ashers contravened the Equality Act and the Fair Employment Act.
Gareth Lee outside Laganside Court in Belfast.
Charles Mcquillan
According to the Belfast Telegraph's crime correspondent Deborah McAleese, Judge Brownlie, in her ruling, said the McArthurs are: "Christians and regular church-goers and they seek to live at all times in a accordance with the doctrines of the Bible." They therefore felt they could not promote same-sex marriage because of their Christian beliefs.
She added that the family, whose business runs to 80 branches and whose case was funded by the Christian institute, "hold genuine deeply held religious beliefs".
However, Brownlie also said equality laws "protect people from having their sexual orientation used for having their business turned down", that "the defendants are not a religious organisation, they conduct a business for profit". She added: "As much as I acknowledge their religious beliefs, this is a business to provide service to all. The law says they must do that." Brownie declared that, following evidence heard in court, she believed "the defendants did have the knowledge that the plaintiff was gay".
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