A Christian-owned baking company which refused to make a gay-themed Sesame Street wedding cake has been warned that it will be taken to court and might face possible jail time unless it apologizes and pays immediate compensation, Breitbart reported.
In May, Ashers Baking Co., based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, was reportedly asked to bake a cake featuring a picture of the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie arm-in-arm above a banner that would read "support gay marriage."
When the baking company refused to do so citing the owner's religious beliefs, customer Gareth Lee complained to Britain's Equality Commission, which then sent a letter to the bakery threatening legal action unless the company made the cake, apologized to the customer and paid "immediate compensation."
Additionally, the company was also informed by the agency that its stance on the Sesame Street-themed dessert would be deemed as "unlawful religious, political and sexual orientation discrimination" against gay customers.
"Daniel McArthur, general manager of the (bakery) firm, said it would amount to endorsing the campaign for the introduction of same-sex marriage, and go against his conscience," the UK Telegraph reported.
In another 16-page letter sent to the central government, the Commission stated that it was "now clear" that the company's decision to not bake the gay-themed cake was a breach of equality laws, which it must compensate for upsetting the customer.
"This letter... is to be understood as a letter of claim which, in the absence of both an immediate acknowledgement that there has been an unlawful breach of the equality laws set out above and an unconditional offer of adequate recompense to Mr. Lee, will be followed by litigation," the letter states.
The Commission's position was deemed illogical by Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian Institute.
"It is simply baffling for a body supposedly working for equality to be threatening a Christian family with legal action, all because of a cake," he said.
"If supporting same-sex marriage is a protected political opinion, so is supporting traditional marriage. Yet the Commission clearly favors one view over another and is prepared to litigate to prove it."
"Is the Commission seriously saying that all business owners have to be willing to promote every political cause or campaign, no matter how much they disagree with it? Does a printer have no right to refuse to print posters for the BNP or Islamic State?"
The McArthur family believes that it is being unfairly targeted and attacked for its religious beliefs, according to Breitbart.
"We feel that the Equality Commission are pursuing us because of our beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman," Daniel McArthur said.
"It feels like a David and Goliath battle because on one hand we have the Equality Commission who are a public body, they're funded by taxpayers' money, they have massive resources at their disposal whereas we are a small family business and we have limited resources at our disposal.
"We're continuing to hold to the stand that we took originally because we believe it's biblical, we believe it's what God would want us to do, and we also think that if we do cave in to the Equality Commission at this point it'll put pressure on other citizens who are defending their view of traditional marriage."
Meanwhile, in a similar case in Colorado bakery owner Jack Phillips was ordered to serve gay clients despite the violation of his religious beliefs.
