Displaying items by tag: gay marriage

A recent meeting of the College of Bishops discussed the next steps of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) discernment process. LLF entails churches discussing whether to allow same-sex marriage in the CofE. One bishop, Steven Croft, published a 52-page essay on 3 November, detailing why he is calling for the Church to back same-sex marriage. It was suggested that when bishops engage with the media, they honour their pledge to be open about their diversity of perspectives. Some want the Church to be more inclusive with regards to same-sex marriage: others believe allowing gay marriage in Church would depart from Biblical teaching. Their debates will be brought to February’s General Synod for decision-making.

On 22 March the gay clergyman Canon Jeremy Pemberton lost his appeal against the Church of England after he claimed its attitude to same-sex marriage breached equality laws. The Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling that he was not discriminated against when he was barred from becoming a hospital chaplain after marrying his partner. The CofE has now established that it can continue to discriminate legally against some LGBT people in relation to their employment, even when that employment is not within the boundaries of the Church's jurisdiction.

Ashers Baking Company, a Christian bakery in Belfast which was sued by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and found guilty of discrimination by refusing to bake a cake supporting same-sex marriage, has reported record profits. These topped £1.5 million last year, an annual increase of more than £170,000. In 2014, the McArthur family who own and run Ashers turned down the cake order because they said the slogan on the cake conflicted with their Christian belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Equality Commission sued them, and the bakery lost the legal fight a year later. According to the Christian Institute, which is backing the company, the McArthur family is in the process of appealing to the UK Supreme Court.

Northern Ireland bakery Ashers has refused to make an engagement cake with a same-sex marriage slogan for a man and his partner. Joe Palmer, who is to wed long-term love Andy Wong this summer, says he’s hurt by the refusal to bake the cake ordered. This has happened just weeks after a landmark Court of Appeal ruling against Ashers, a bakery run by the McArthurs, a Christian family. The ruling was that Ashers had discriminated against a customer due to his sexuality when they refused his order for a cake with a pro-gay marriage motto. This time a friend, Grainne McCann, ordered and paid for the cake online, only to have the order rejected the next day. The wording requested for the cake was ‘Gay marriage rocks! Happy engagement Andy and Joe! Lots of love xxx’. Grainne said, ‘The cake was refused because it celebrated gay marriage.’