An owner of a Belfast bakery who refused to make a cake promoting gay marriage has told a court that fulfilling the order would have betrayed his conscience.

Colin McArthur, who co-owns Ashers bakery, told the high court in Belfast he had discussed with his wife, Karen, “how we could stand before God and bake a cake like this, promoting a cause like this”.

The case was brought by gay rights activist Gareth Lee, who had ordered the cake to mark the election of the first openly LGBT mayor in Northern Ireland last year – Andrew Muir, an Alliance councillor for North Down. The design featured the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie, as well as the slogan “Support gay marriage” and the logo of the QueerSpace gay rights group.

The Equality Commission is funding Lee’s case against the business, accusing it of discrimination under the Equality Act, by up to £30,000.

Earlier on Friday, Karen McArthur admitted that she had initially agreed to an order for the cake because she did not want to embarrass the customer who asked for it or start a confrontation in the shop. She said she then consulted an elder in her branch of the Presbyterian church about the order.

She added: “In my heart I knew that I would not be able to fulfil the order.”

David Scoffield QC, representing Ashers, said his clients could not set aside their religious beliefs when they donned their baking overalls. “This is a freedom of conscience case. The evidence from the defendants is that they seek to live at all times in accordance with the teachings of the Bible. The religious beliefs form the very core of who they are.”

Scoffield said the business did not have a problem with the sexuality of its customers but rather the message contained on the cake. He said the bakery “served many gay customers on a daily basis”.



He added: “The defendants neither knew nor cared about Mr Lee’s sexual orientation or his religious beliefs, if any, or his political opinions. The issue was the content of the cake, not the content of his character.”

Scoffield accused the Equality Commission of taking a “kneejerk” reaction over Ashers’ decision.

Karen McArthur also told the court Ashers bakery did not specify on its advertising that there were any pre-conditions on what kind of cakes it would bake.

Regarding the “Support gay marriage” slogan, she added that she would have “felt wrong in my own conscience putting it on a cake”.

On the opening day of the civil action on Thursday, Lee told a packed court that, although he used to be a regular customer at Ashers, he felt like “a lesser person” and “unworthy” after the company refused to bake the cake he asked for.

The case has become a groundbreaking clash between backers of religious freedom and supporters of equality rights for the LGBT community in Northern Ireland, with Ashers now a global cause for evangelical Christians across the world.

Ashers is named after one of the 12 sons of biblical patriarch Jacob whose ”food would be rich” and who “would provide delicacies fit for a king”. The bakery’s stance has the backing of the Democratic Unionist Party, including Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s first minister.

The case continues.



