‘Ashers proves that reasonable accommodation must be written into equality law.’
CI
The Christian Institute has called for reasonable accommodation to be
written into equality law, after the disappointing ruling against Ashers Baking
Company.
In a public debate this week, Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the
Institute, Simon Calvert, said the Ashers case demonstrates that equality law is
taking away vital freedoms.
He argued that an alteration to the law could result in a fairer outcome
for cases like Ashers.
Clash
During the debate, organised by current affairs magazine Spiked, Mr
Calvert proposed that in the “tiny minority of cases where there is a clash of
rights”, the court should be “obliged to go through a careful process of
assessing and balancing the competing rights, to see whether reasonable
accommodation can be made for both sides”.
If this is done, he argued, cases like that of Ashers, the Bulls and
Lillian Ladele “might sometimes result in a fairer and arguably more humane
outcome”.
Last month, Ashers Baking Company lost its appeal against a County Court
ruling, which said it had directly discriminated against customer Gareth Lee by
declining to decorate a cake with the slogan “Support Gay
Marriage”.
Sincerely-held beliefs
Bed and Breakfast owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull were ordered to pay
damages of £3,600 to a same-sex couple, for declining to provide them with a
double room.
And marriage registrar Lillian Ladele was forced out of her job after she
said her conscience could not allow her to carry out civil
partnerships.
Mr Calvert went on to stress the importance of respecting sincerely-held
beliefs, saying: “If we’re talking about respecting conscience, we’re talking
about respecting something that’s important. It’s not a whim, it’s not a
prejudice dressed up, it’s a real, deeply-held belief.”
He added: “If equality law is causing injustice and misery. If it’s
taking away freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom of conscience,
then it should be changed.”
Appeal
This week, it emerged that Northern Ireland’s Attorney General, John
Larkin QC, will seek to refer the Ashers case to the UK Supreme
Court.
Mr Larkin is questioning the validity of the laws used against the
bakery.
The move is separate to any appeal by the McArthur family, who own and
run Ashers. The family are still considering their legal
options.
Court hearing
Responding to an enquiry by the Belfast Telegraph, a spokesman for the
Attorney General confirmed that he was taking the case
further.
She added: “I can confirm that an application for leave to appeal to the
Supreme Court has been listed for hearing on November
22.”
