‘Gay cake’ row bakery will now only make birthday and baby cakes
The bakery which was last week found guilty of discrimination based on sexual orientation has announced that it will only make cakes to celebrate birthdays and babies.
The owners of Ashers Bakery in Belfast were last week found guilty of unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation and political or religious grounds.
Last July, Ashers Baking Company – based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland – refused the request of gay rights activist Gareth Lee for a cake showing the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’ above an image of Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie.
The company’s general manager Daniel McArthur said it would limit the kind of cakes it provides in light of the ruling.
He said: “Due to the recent legal developments we have decided to limit our celebration cake range to certain birthday and baby-related celebration cakes while we consider our policy and talk with our lawyers.”
Supermarket giant Tesco last week said it was “reviewing” its relationship with Ashers, after the company was found guilty.
Speaking to the media after the ruling, Mr McArthur said the bakery would not close, and that despite the ruling, they did not consider that they had done anything wrong.
“We will not be closing down. We have not done anything wrong”, Mr McArthur said.
