June 5, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Patrick Stewart, also know as Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, has publicly come out in support of beleaguered Ashers Bakery, saying the Christian bakers in Northern Ireland have every right to refuse to ice cakes with wording they deem offensive.
Speaking on the BBC's flagship daily news and current affairs program Newsnight, Stewart said, “Finally, I found myself on the side of the bakers.”
Last month, a Belfast County Court judge issued a precedent-setting ruling when she found the Christian-owned family bakery guilty of “direct discrimination” for refusing to bake a cake supporting same-sex “marriage.”
Ashers Bakery had been asked to ice a cake with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage,” along with the logo of the homosexual pressure group QueerSpace, and a picture of Sesame Street puppet characters Bert and Ernie.
Ashers declined the order, saying the wording offended their Christian beliefs about the true meaning of marriage. They were subsequently hauled before the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland, which took the bakers to court after they refused to comply with the Commission's demand that they bake a cake that violated their beliefs.
Stewart told the BBC, “It was not because it was a gay couple that they objected, it was not because they were celebrating some sort of marriage or an agreement between them. It was the actual words on the cake they objected to. Because they found the words offensive.”
“I would support their rights to say no, this is personally offensive to my beliefs, I will not do it,” Stewart concluded.
Stewart, a high-profile advocate of assisted suicide, is also open about his support for the homosexual movement.