A refused cake sale in Northern Ireland

kalmanon2 · 08-07-2014 1:52pm #1

I just saw the article on BBC and RTE about the NI Bakery that refused to bake an LGBT cake.

I am sure some have heard of it as well. Wonder if my views will be agreed with or not, what do you guys think?

I think it is sad that they are biblical fundamentalists and have that view of LGBT people that is.... childish really "We don't serve them because of the good book".

And as I understand the law, every company does have the right to refuse service so if they don't want to serve gay people or make them great big camp cakes, the are under no obligation technically.

That being said, I think in this case that they as a company are in the wrong because they had already accepted payment for a service, and then imposed religious views after the fact... the people in the shop called head office who said "give them a refund, SINFULNESS!"....

Makes me depressed to be from the north sometimes...

J_E · 08-07-2014 1:56pm

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." - Peter 4:8

Passages like this seem to be always conveniently forgotten by those who foster irrational distaste for others for 'religious reasons'

eviltwin · 08-07-2014 3:40pm

I would respectfully suggest to the owners of the shop in question that if they have such difficulty dealing with certain people that they explore other career options outside the service/retail industry. You can't just say I won't deal with X and expect that to be okay because of your religion. I wouldn't get away with it, I'm sure if their staff objected to serving someone on their individual moral grounds they would be let go so why should an owner be exempt.

kalmanon2 · 08-07-2014 3:46pm

I just hope the fact that the money was accepted by the floor staff is sufficient to overturn the "refusal of service" argument - the fact the money was accepted and a receipt given is generally taken to be a contract to provide what was paid for.

floggg · 09-07-2014 6:54pm

kalmanon2 wrote: »

I just hope the fact that the money was accepted by the floor staff is sufficient to overturn the "refusal of service" argument - the fact the money was accepted and a receipt given is generally taken to be a contract to provide what was paid for.

You don't have a general right to refuse service - it is unlawful if you refuse service on one or more of the 9 grounds specified in equality legislation.

It's irrelevant for the purposes of equality legislation whether a refusal takes place before or after the contract was entered into.

alan partridge aha · 09-07-2014 7:07pm

Article in the Indo
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/equalitys-a-twoway-street-not-a-box-of-chocolates-30416090.html

Ambersky · 09-07-2014 10:01pm

Lets see I wonder which newspaper is likely have a link to an article supporting equality in the provision of goods and services and which is likely to have an article saying this is political correctness gone crazy.
We've had a link, without comment, to the Indo to stir things up a bit..yawn! with more of the same old same old like weve never seen before. So lets have a look at the article in the guardian. Yep pretty much the opposing viewpoint all right.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/09/cake-northern-ireland-gay-rights-lgbt

Annasopra · 09-07-2014 10:24pm

Ambersky wrote: »

Lets see I wonder which newspaper is likely have a link to an article supporting equality in the provision of goods and services and which is likely to have an article saying this is political correctness gone crazy.
We've had a link, without comment, to the Indo to stir things up a bit..yawn! with more of the same old same old like weve never seen before. So lets have a look at the article in the guardian. Yep pretty much the opposing viewpoint all right.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/09/cake-northern-ireland-gay-rights-lgbt

Andrew is a great guy.

A refused cake sale in Northern Ireland

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