The Equality Commission did not get the message on Ashers

The Supreme Court ruling is not only welcome but confirms the case made from the beginning.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Oct 2018, 16:37 BST
Updated 11th Oct 2018, 18:09 BST
Michael Wardlow of the Equality Commission outside an earlier Ashers case hearing in BelfastMichael Wardlow of the Equality Commission outside an earlier Ashers case hearing in Belfast
Michael Wardlow of the Equality Commission outside an earlier Ashers case hearing in Belfast

As a consequence the Equality Commission, the County Court and the Court of Appeals were wrong. They failed to distinguish between a service (the cake) and the message (the icing).

Will the Equality Commission now acknowledge that they were wrong; that they will obey the ruling of the Supreme Court; that they will step back from their political agenda and finally that they will ensure the full implications of this ruling are taken on board?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gareth Lee should note that he is not in any worse position that four years ago. He can still be served.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

He can still get what he wants. What he cannot get is to compel another to act against their conscience.

What the Equality Commission confused (cake and message) and the county court accepted the Supreme Court has now dismissed.

Order has been restored.

Even Senator Ronan Mullen, Galway, noted: “Ashers decision is a victory for common sense over ideology and for courts over quangos but it shouldn’t have required the reasoning power of Britain’s highest court to see the difference between objecting to a message and discriminating against a person.”

Apparently though the Equality Commission didn’t get that message.

Rev E T Kirkland, Free Church, Ballyclare

Related topics:Britain