Conservatives Furious Christians Face Lawsuit Over Bert And Ernie Gay Marriage Cake

American conservatives are up in arms that a bakery in Ireland run by Christians is facing a lawsuit for refusing to bake a Bert and Ernie “support gay marriage” cake for the International Day Against Homophobia.

A Northern Ireland bakery is facing a lawsuit unless it apologizes and pays a fine after its Christian owners refused to bake a cake because they disagreed with its message. Ashers Baking Co. reportedly refused to bake the cake, citing their religious beliefs, and stating their rejection of the request is “what God would want us to do.”

The customer wanted a cake decorated with the famous Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie, and a banner that would read, “Support gay marriage.” The cake, despite what conservatives are claiming, was not a wedding cake.

The Telegraph reports “Daniel McArthur, general manager of the firm, said it would amount to endorsing the campaign for the introduction of same-sex marriage, and go against his conscience.”

But the Equality Commission wrote to the firm insisting that the refusal amounted to discrimination against the customer, Gareth Lee, who wanted the cake for an event to mark International Day Against Homophobia.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK in which same-sex marriage is not legal, a stance recently confirmed by a vote in the province’s devolved Assembly.

In a 16-page letter, the Commission said it was “now clear” that the decision not to bake the Bert and Ernie cake was a breach of equality laws and that it must back down and compensate Mr Lee for his hurt feelings or face legal action.

The story, which originally came out four months ago, is roiling American conservatives now.

Syndicated radio host and anti-gay right wing religious activist Janet Mefferd posted this to Twitter today:

Breitbart, home to radical anti-gay Tea Party conservatives, ran an article today lamenting “attacks” on Christian bakeries. “Several bakeries in the US have already faced similar attacks. In one case, bakery owner Jack Phillips was told to serve gay clients in Colorado despite that doing would violate his religious beliefs.”

Comments included this:

And other anti-gay conservatives chimed in on social media:

And over at World Net Daily (WND), home to the most radical of America’s right wing, comments on an article looked like this:

 

Image, top, via Flickr