Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and Others: The Inapplicability of Discrimination Law to an Illusory Conflict of Rights

Abstract

Providers of customised goods and services do not directly discriminate against a customer when their refusal to fulfil an order is based on their objection to the message requested by the latter and not on any protected characteristics of the person. This is the conclusion reached by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when faced with a claim of direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and religious beliefs or political opinions contrary to two Northern Ireland Statutory Rules against a bakery which objected to incorporating the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’ into a cake. In this case comment it is argued that the Supreme Court correctly identified the crucial distinction between a message and a person for the purposes of discrimination law. Each of the two grounds of discrimination at issue is examined and an explanation for the inapplicability of a finding of discrimination on either is offered.