Bakery stirring up controversy

THE BAKERY owner in hot water after refusing to create a cake featuring a slogan in support of gay marriage will perhaps be surprised by the level of interest in his case.

However, discrimination against same-sex couples has undoubtedly risen up the news agenda in recent times.

Be it a Christian guest house owner refusing rooms to homosexual couples or, in this case, a baker uncomfortable with a requested decoration, it seems there are few issues more likely to stimulate lively debate.

There is little doubt Daniel McArthur, general manager of Ashers Baking Company, has an unshakeable religious belief. Nor is his refusal to provide the requested cake the result of any inherent malice.

However, there is also no doubt that his actions have caused upset and indeed anger in some quarters.

Mr McArthur insists his business must be allowed to follow religious beliefs and make decisions in accordance with those beliefs, however extreme they may seem to some. Certainly it is a quandary with no clear solution.

Northern Ireland is, at present, the only part of the UK where same sex marriage is not legal. Whether the state’s position on the issue gives any additional credence to Mr McArthur’s argument will, in all probability, be for the courts to decide.

Of course, changing attitudes is not something that happens overnight. What is certain is that this latest case will once again force the issue into the open.

While arguing over the ins and outs of particular cases will not solve any problems, healthy and progressive debate most certainly will.

Let us hope what follows in the wake of this latest stand-off falls very much into the latter category.