In what certainly is a rare occurrence, the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom this week is hearing arguments on an issue heard recently in the U.S. Supreme Court: whether an LGBT activist can force a Christian baker to create a product that violates his religious beliefs.
In the U.K., it is the family-owned Ashers Baking Co. that was fined for declining to promote homosexuality.
The family in the long-running case brought by Northern Ireland’s taxpayer-funded Equality Commission is being represented by the Christian Institute. Arguments are being heard over the next few days in Belfast.
The bakery had declined to create a cake bearing the campaign slogan “Support Gay Marriage,” since the message violated the owners’ faith.
The company is owned by the McArthur family, which, the institute said, “has been dragged through the courts in Northern Ireland.”
After incurring an estimated £200,000 in legal bills, about $260,000, Ashers