Ashers Baking Company was asked to make a cake saying 'support gay marriage' but declined, saying it would compromise their Christian beliefs. LGBT activists launched a civil action against Ashers. Throughout legal proceedings Ashers repeatedly said their refusal to bake the cake had nothing to do with discrimination. On Tuesday they lost the case and said, ‘We’re extremely disappointed with today’s ruling. If equality law means people can be punished for politely refusing to support other people’s causes, then equality laws need to change. The judges accepted that we did not know Mr Lee was gay and that was not the reason we declined the order. We have always said it was never about the customer, it was about the message. The court accepted that. But now we are being told we have to promote the message even though it’s against our conscience.’