Bakery that refused to make homophobic cake cleared of unlawful discrimination
Image: Photo: Stephanie Astono Salim.
AN Irish bakery that refused to make a cake with an anti-gay slogan has been cleared of unlawful discrimination.
The bakery had rejected an order for a cake with a message calling same-sex weddings a “perversion”, Pink News has reported.
The would-be customer filed a discrimination complaint, in an apparent parallel to a case in Northern Ireland where a bakery was punished over not creating a pro-gay cake.
Despite the claim of religious discrimination, the Workplace Relations Commission ruled that the bakery’s declining to make the order was not in breach of anti-discrimination law.
While sexuality is protected under Irish anti-discrimination law, there is no such protection for homophobic speech.
The complainant’s “lengthy, oppressive and aggressive communications” reportedly impacted staff at the bakery.
The bakery maintained the case was frivolous, and the Workplace Relations Commission determined that no religious discrimination had taken place.
Two years ago, a Dublin bakery was found guilty of discrimination over its refusal to make a cake with the message “Support Gay Marriage”.
