Christian Family face possible legal action

If the hotel had a 'no children' policy then they wouldn't be discriminating against the gay couple so they'd be quite within their rights to refuse their booking, I'd imagine.

What would happen if a gay couple wanted to stay in a hotel or whatever, with their children?

China gee-gaws, at last managed to type that, iPad changed it to gnaws and then gays!

In case they break the ghastly China gee-gnaws.

Yes, various hotels have this policy and also holiday cottages.

I think a 'no children' policy is legal if it's made clear in all the advertising and booking information.

A case was successfully brought against a couple who ran a B&B in the UK and refused to accept a gay couple as guests a couple of years ago, granjura.

Would it be OK for a B&B to refuse gays staying there?

What about B&B owners who refuse children?

What about a B&B that refuses Muslims?

Oh blow the cake - I'll just have bread and butter thanks

with sprinkles!

The Ashers are considering their legal options re appealing.

Oh blow the cake - I'll just have bread and butter thanks...

The baker not supporting gay marriage is not the problem. The baker has every right not to support gay marriage on a personal level, i.e. as it affects him (or her).

The problem was that the baker wanted to treat a customer differently because of the baker's own beliefs and prejudices. The baker's own beliefs and prejudices should not interfere with his business. That is the law.

I'd be interested in following a case such as you suggest, river. If the law were not broken by the slogan (just as it wasn't for the Support Gay Marriage slogan), then I imagine the same rules about treating customers equally would apply.

The slogan Support Gay Marriage is not against NI law. Gay Marriage is but not campaigning to make it legal.

It was found that the bakery had discriminated against homosexuals. Not gay marriage per se.

How can the law be on their side when gay marriage is not legal in NI?

The legislature doesn't support gay marriage because there is no gay marriage in that part of the UK, so why is a baker who doesn't support gay marriage found guilty?

I see your point, Riverwalk, but the complainants had the equality law on their side, which is how the case was successfully prosecuted.

Old men who have a penchant for 16 year old girls aren't protected by any such laws, so no attempted prosecution for refusing to endorse their prediliction would succeed.

I'm obviously not articulate enough to get my point across!

My hypothetical heterosexual man requests a certain slogan to which a baker objects because he doesn't agree with promoting old men having sex/marriage with 16 year-old girls.

So, in IMO, the baker in NI who objected to a slogan promoting gay marriage is not discriminating against a gay customer but refusing to put into icing a slogan to which he disagrees.

There is no equality law that forbids predatory old men from being discriminated against. There is an equality law that forbids gay men or women from being discriminated against.

There is still a ban on gay marriage in Northern Ireland - apparently now the only place in western Europe where it is disallowed. In some ways it seems ridiculous that equality laws protect the gay couple on a relatively insubstantial issue whilst on a major issue - marriage - it seems unequal treatment is still legal.

As I understand it, the traditional "branches" of christianity, judaism and islam have varying degrees of opposition to the notion of gay marriage but all are absolutely opposed to conducting marriage ceremonies for gay people - so the term "marriage" only refers to civil/registry office ceremonies.

Yes bags gay marriage is legal, as is marriage between predatory old men and 16 year-old schoolgirls.

All perfectly legal but we all have different views on what we think is a good and promotable idea.

I think it may still not be in NI, but making custom cakes is and discriminating against customers on the grounds of politics (making gay marriage legal is a political issue) or relgion isn't. The baker broke the law.

But it wasn't in NI at the time.

Perhaps it wouldn't be illegal. I'm not up on what counts as sexual soliciting within the law. Gay marriage is legal.

soon if the sari maker advertised as doing custom printing or weaving on saris (do they?), then yes.

River - I can't imagine a court finding any baker who refused to write your slogan (not saying you agree with it) on a cake as having broken any law. It's distasteful and I expect any baker could refuse to ice it onto a cake. This thread is going doolally. The baker broke the law - simple.

Should a sari owner be forced to weave, I love christianity, or christianity is the only religion or somthing like that, on his garments?