Ashers Bakery appeal suspended after dramatic intervention

Feb 3, 2016 by Jill

By Harry Farley, Christian Today:

The ‘gay cake’ case has been dramatically adjourned following a last minute intervention from Northern Ireland’s Attorney General.

Ashers Bakery, owned by the McArthur family, was appealing a ruling after they refused to produce a cake with a “support gay marriage” slogan. They were fined £500 after a Belfast court ruled they had discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation.

However their appeal was postponed after a late intervention from John Larkin QC, Attorney General in Northern Ireland, which raised a potential conflict between the region’s equality legislation (which is not the same as the 2010 Equalities Act) and European human rights laws.

The lateness of the representation was “most unfortunate” said Northern Ireland’s Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, who was presiding over the appeal.

“We have all tried to see if we could proceed with the case, given the amount of work that has been done. It seems to us that it is simply not possible to do that without running into some risk of fairness in the hearing. We are not going to proceed with the hearing today.”

The hearing will be postponed until May and it is understood the questions surround the legality of Northern Ireland’s sexual orientation regulations. It currently prohibits the refusal of services on the grounds of religion, race or sexual orientation.

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Read also: ‘Dramatic Ashers adjournment confirms importance of case’ from The Christian Institute

Read also: I’ve changed my mind on the ‘gay cake’ row. Here’s why by Peter Tatchell, Guardian