Homophobic Irish bakery convicted

This video from the USA says about itself:

Walmart Employee Refuses To Make “Gay” Cake

6 May 2015

“Two Nevada teens — one gay and one straight — have become Internet sensations in the wake of their viral promposal, but a new wrinkle in what had been a heartwarming story has emerged.

Jennifer Sandoval, the aunt of one of the teens, told local Fox affiliate KVVU-TV that employees at a Las Vegas Walmart refused to include the word “gay” on a surprise cake she bought for the duo. Sandoval’s nephew is Anthony Martinez, who attended the Desert Oasis High School junior prom with his straight best friend, Jacob Lescenski, on May 2.

In a Teen Vogue video profile of Lescenski and Martinez, … Sandoval revealed the original inscription she’d hoped to have written on the icing: “You’re gay, he’s straight, you’re going to prom, you couldn’t have had a better date.”

After the Walmart associates refused to print the word “gay,” she opted for, “You matter, prom kings.”

“One word — ‘gay’ — which is the meaning of happy, isn’t going to harm putting that on a cake,” Sandoval said in the KVVU-TV interview. “I don’t understand. It’s one word. It’s ‘gay.'”

Read more here.

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

Northern Ireland bakers guilty of discrimination over gay marriage cake

Ashers Baking Company found guilty of discrimination for refusing to make cake featuring gay pressure-group slogan

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent

Tuesday 19 May 2015 10.37 BST

A Northern Ireland bakery has been found guilty in a landmark ruling of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-gay marriage theme.

Ashers Baking Company received worldwide support from evangelical and born-again Christians over its refusal to make the cake for a local gay rights activist in the region.

But a judge in Belfast high court on Tuesday ruled that the family-owned firm was guilty of discriminating against Gareth Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation.

District judge Isobel Brownlie acknowledged that the McArthur family, which owns Ashers, do “hold genuine deeply-held religious beliefs”.

However, she pointed out that government regulations were there “to protect people from having their sexual orientation used for having their business turned down”.

The judge added: “I believe the defendants did have the knowledge that the plaintiff was gay.”

Outlining her reasons why this was a case of discrimination, Brownlie said: “The defendants are not a religious organisation. They conduct a business for profit. As much as I acknowledge their religious beliefs, this is a business to provide service to all. The law says they must do that.”

The firm was accused of discriminating on the grounds of sexual orientation against Lee, a volunteer with gay rights campaign group QueerSpace.

Lee asked Ashers in Belfast’s Royal Avenue to bake the cake last year to mark the election of the first openly gay mayor in Northern Ireland, Andrew Muir.

Lee reported the bakery to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland after it reversed an earlier agreement to bake the cake with the pro-gay marriage message.

During the three-day court hearing in March, Lee said the decision by Ashers decision to hand back the £36.50 he had originally paid for the cake “made me feel I’m not worthy, a lesser person and to me that was wrong”.

However, Lee, through the Belfast-based gay rights lobby group, the Rainbow Project, said he would not be making any statement in relation to the judgment.