of the 6th of january riot at 2100 gmt, later on thursday, here on bbc news. the european court of human rights has dismissed a legal challenge in a long running dispute with a gay rights activist in northern ireland. the court ruled that action brought by gareth lee, who claims that he was discriminated against back in 2014 when the christian owners of a belfast bakery refused to make him a cake iced with the slogan support gay marriage was inadmissible. our ireland correspondent chris page gave us the background into the case. never before, you could say, has a cake been so controversial. this started in 2014, when gareth lee, a gay rights activist, walked into a branch of ashers baking company in belfast city centre and placed an orderfor a cake bearing the slogan support gay marriage . at the time, same sex couples were not able to get married in northern ireland. the law finally changed in 2020.
gay marriage was legalised then. but eight years ago, it was a major political debate going on. there was a big campaign going on, so mr lee wanted the slogan endorsing that campaign. however, he got a phone call from the bakery owners saying that they were not going to bake the cake because they thought the message on it was at odds with their christian beliefs. mr lee took legal action. he was supported by the northern ireland equality watchdog in doing so. he alleged he had been discriminated against on the grounds of his sexuality. he won his case at the high court here in belfast and then at the northern ireland court of appeal. but then it went to the uk supreme court and it overturned the previous verdicts. judges in london ruled in favour of the bakers, saying their objection to making the cake was on the basis of the political message that they disagreed with, and not mr lee s sexuality. mr lee then took the case further
are grounds for a mistrial. prosecutors have requested an inquiry. last week, maxwell was found guilty of grooming underage girls to be abused byjeffrey epstein. the european court of human rights has dismissed a legal challenge in a long running dispute with a gay rights activist in northern ireland. the court ruled action brought by gareth lee, who claims that he was discriminated against back in 2014 when the christian owners of a belfast bakery refused to make him a cake iced with the slogan support gay marriage , was inadmissible. more electric cars were sold in 2021 in the previous five years combined according to the society of motor manufacturers and traders but some of the entry body what it much more investment is needed in charging infrastructure. overall the car market has not yet recovered from the pandemic slump. the headlines on bbc news on the anniversary of the attack on the us capitol president biden has condemned his predecessor donald trump. he accused him of s
to make him a cake iced with the slogan support gay marriage was inadmissible. our ireland correspondent chris page gave us the background into the case. never before, you could say, has a cake been so controversial. this started in 2014, when gareth lee, a gay rights activist, walked into a branch of ashers baking company in belfast city centre and placed an order for a cake bearing the slogan support gay marriage . at the time, same sex couples were not able to get married in northern ireland. the law finally changed in 2020. gay marriage was legalised then. but eight years ago, it was a major political debate going on. there was a big campaign going on, so mr lee wanted the slogan endorsing that campaign. however, he got a phone call from the bakery owners saying that they were not going to bake the cake because they thought the message on it was at odds with their christian beliefs. mr lee took legal action. he was supported by the northern ireland equality watchdog in doing so.
deborah willjoin the bbc from itn, where she is ceo. she replaces fran unsworth, who is retiring after four years in the role and leaves the bbc at the end of january. you re watching bbc news. the european court of human rights has dismissed a legal challenge in a long running dispute with a gay rights activist in northern ireland. the court ruled action brought by gareth lee, who claims that he was discriminated against back in 2014 when the christian owners of a belfast bakery refused to make him a cake iced with the slogan support gay marriage , was inadmissible. the retailer next has reported strong christmas sales. it says sales for the eight weeks to december the 25th were up 20% compared with the same period two years ago. the performance was £70 million ahead of what it had forecast. but the retailer is warning that forecasting for the year is unusually difficult