Gay cakes
The law really is morally bankrupt.
The case is very simple –
A family open a cake shop. That's fine. The shop is their business [literally and figuratively] and it's up to them how they run that business.
Along comes a gay activist. He decides to order a cake from the shop that is deliberately provocative in that he knows full well that the shop family are devout Christians and will probably object to the cake design. Indeed the shop does object so our gay friend runs squealing to the courts claiming discrimination. The courts decide that this was a case of discrimination and fine the shop.
That is wrong on so many levels that I don't know where to start.
Firstly, the cake shop is a business. They are presumably there to make a profit and a living? It is entirely up to the shop how they run that business and if they want to turn away potential customers then that is literally their loss. It may not make sense from a business point of view but that's entirely up to them. What's more they shouldn't have to give any reason for refusing business – their shop, their rules. This applies to any business. If a pub owner has a thing about people with red hair, he should be completely within his rights to refuse service to a red-head. The customer can go elsewhere and it's the pub owner who is out of pocket. It's his loss not the red-head's.
Then there is our gay friend. He knew damn well that the shop was run by devout Christians. He knew damn well that the decoration he demanded was provocative and contra to the shop owners' beliefs. I presume there were many other cake shops and bakeries in the area but he quite deliberately chose this specific one. He hoped to be turned away so he could bring his whining little case to the Equality Mob. And boy did the Politically Correct jump on his case!!
Now I don't hold entirely with the beliefs of the shop owners. But what they believe is their business and if it affects their turnover then again that's their business.
Nor do I have any problem with homosexuality. It's like religion – none of my business. However when some little cunt deliberately and with malice aforethought provokes a situation where he can hide behind the law then I do have a problem.
The shop owner was fully within his rights.
The activist should have been told to grow up, rev up and fuck off and to stop wasting people's time.
Alternatively the shop should have baked the cake and decorated it as ordered.
With an added ingredient of copious quantities of laxative.
Breitbart makes some interesting points on this, concluding that the decision opens floodgates for vexatious law suits.
KR, Peter
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/05/20/let-them-eat-cake-the-victimization-of-christian-bakers-signals-its-time-to-fight-back/
Welcome Peter!
I suppose all this is inevitable. It's reaching the stage where minorities are just abusing the law for their own ends. No law should discriminate against a group but no law should specifically protect a group either. Equally I don't think anyone has any right to dictate how someone should run his or her business.
Political Correctness is rapidly becoming a cancer in society.
Exactly the same occurrence in USA but in a twist a blogger wondered what would happen if he asked a muslim bakery to make the cake for him.At least he didn't get decapitated of course he didn't get his cake either.
https://youtu.be/RgWIhYAtan4
Fair play to the bakery is all I can say. Fuck but that "compare" is hard to listen to!!
If this is appealed in a court of law the case for refusal to put Support Gay Marriage on a cake could be argued on the right to free speech. The right to freedom of speech includes the right not to utter opinions that one seriously disagrees with; the right to be silent. A constitutional lawyer could argue that the cake shop had a right not to inscribe Support Gay Marriage on the icing on the grounds that the shop owners don't believe the inscription. There is no written British constitution whereas the Irish constitution guarantees freedom of speech and assembly in accordance with law. A baker who supports Fine Gael shouldn't have to sell a cake with the inscription Up Fianna Fail or Gerry Adams is our Saviour to supporters of Fianna Fail or Sinn Fein.
This is where the problem comes to a head – freedom of speech vs political correctness. To my mind there should be no laws regarding freedom of speech as it is an inherent right [with the possible exception of incitement to violence]. We should all have the same rights under a common law with no "minority groups" getting special treatment. A business owner should have the right to refuse any trade that he so wishes with or without any reason, and if some sector of society feels hard done by then that's their tough shit.
I think it's an appalling decision. They missed the point that the shop did not refuse to serve him because of his sexuality, they would have cheerfully served him as a customer, they refused the cake design, and you cannot discriminate against a cake!. Furthermore that design was a political one and as a cake shop they would be well advised to steer clear of political activism or partisanship.
An excellent point which seems to have totally escaped the court. It will be interesting to see how the appeal works out, assuming there is one [which I hope there is].
well a bank told me 'in writing' though I cannot for the life of me see how having something written is somehow superior to the spoken word, it no longer wanted to do business with me and closed its account…missed a trick there but I not gay or lesbian or transgender or ethnic minority or religious or atheist or fat or any other divisive tag one cares to invent.
Maybe your eyebrows meet in the middle? [I have been told repeatedly that it's a bad sign, probably because mine do]. Presumably you just moved to a different bank so you lost nothing?
"something written is somehow superior to the spoken word" Definitely they want a hard copy and don't trust you. Check those eyebrows.
No. Binned all banks and their accounts. Took it as a sign from the eybrows.
Ah, I got around the eyebrow one since my wife insisted on plucking out those hairs which seem determined to meet in the middle. So now, I'm a good sign. 🙂
Just go to some bakery that's run by muslims and ask for a massive picture of their so-called mohammed on it. Then sue. Result: Nothing. Fair? Fair my arse.
It's always against the Christians.
Absolutely. The PC mob would have a nervous breakdown trying to reconcile that one! "Do we support the gay guy (because we always do, being 'on message'), or do we support the Muslim, because, well, it's their kulcher, innit?
It would be between a rock and a hard place for the liberal twitterati. It would be quite delicious to watch them squirm in the grip of their conflicting desires to be seen as being terribly 'right-on'.!
Believe me this lot in government are just getting started soON Ireland will be as big a PC basket case as the UK.
http://www.independent.ie/news/new-garda-authority-will-monitor-force-to-ensure-gender-balance-and-diversity-31234034.html
Really disappointed in you Grandad with this post and your previous article re the marriage referendum. Thought you were a fighter for minority rights. And, incidentally, it was proven in court that the customer in this case didn't target any business. He had purchased from this bakery in the past and his choice was random. Order was accepted and – on reflection – the owner decided to refuse to fulfill the order due to his anti-gay beliefs. Be fair.
Welcome Noel! You make a valid point there, and rather than give a gib answer I have attempted to explain my position in a full post.
I actually don't think it is relevant whether or not the customer targeted a business. The relevant point is that a business owner decided for whatever reason that they didn't want to do business. I am merely saying that that is the business owner's prerogative. I would say that about any business, be they bakers, bankers or butchers. I don't think any minority group should feel it has some kind of right to tell a private company how it should run things.
yer know I asked why Dublin a few days ago well er indoors asked the 5o year old who is going why DublIn. She said it was always somewhere she fancied going. Again why?
Well it has some nice parks and museums (Two things she never goes to here) and it is somewhere different. WTF?
It does have some nice parks and museums [or it did the last time I was there], but then so does London. Or even Paris. Or Sydney. I will concede that Dublin is a tad more convenient for a weekend trip than Sydney though.