Patrick Stewart backs ‘gay cake’ row bakery
By Will Stroude
Patrick Stewart has admitted he’s come down on the side of the Belfast bakery which was fined last month after refusing to make a cake for a gay man with an equal marriage slogan on it.
District Judge Isobel Brownlie ruled that Ashers Baking Company had unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation after refusing to make cake on religious grounds, saying “This is direct discrimination for which there is no justification.”
While appearing on Newsnight earlier this week (June 3) to discuss his human rights work, Stewart was asked by host Evan Davis about his thoughts on the ruling.
Admitting that the details of the case made it a “deliciously difficult subject” Stewart replied: “Finally, I found myself on the side of the bakers.”
The X-Men star – who has been a vocal supporter of gay rights in the past – continued: “It was not because it was a gay couple that they objected, it was not because they were celebrating some sort of marriage or an agreement between them.
“It was the actual words on the cake they objected to. Because they found the words offensive.”
He added: “I would support their rights to say no, this is personally offensive to my beliefs, I will not do it.”
Stewart isn’t the first public figure to back the bakery. Last month, Loose Women panelist Coleen Nolan sparked outrage following the verdict after asking whether the ruling meant that bakeries would be forced to make cakes with ISIS slogans on them.
Meanwhile Ashers Baking Company has confirmed that it will appeal the ruling, saying: “After much careful and prayerful consideration given to legal advice, we have decided to appeal the judgement handed down last Tuesday.
“We continue to insist that we have done nothing wrong as we have discriminated against no individual, but rather acted according to what the Bible teaches regarding marriage.”
It was recently reported that the bakery was refusing to make wedding or special-order cakes of any kind in the wake of the judgement, saying they would limit their range of celebration cakes to just birthdays and babies for the foreseeable future.
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