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Public backs bakery in 'gay cake' row, says poll: Six in ten believe proposed court action over owners' refusal to bake cake is wrong

A majority of the country thinks the persecution of a bakery for refusing to make a cake advertising gay marriage is wrong, a poll found yesterday.

Six out of 10 think that it is ‘disproportionately heavy-handed’ to drag a bakery company to court because its Christian owners declined an order for the cake with a message.

Those who deplore the state-backed legal action against the bakers outnumber supporters by more than four to one, it said.

Most people also believe David Cameron was wrong to assure Parliament that his gay marriage laws would not ‘cause discrimination’ against dissidents who do not believe two people of the same sex should be able to marry.

The warning to the Prime Minister that equality laws are beginning to offend large numbers of people follows the outbreak earlier this month of the gay marriage cake scandal.

The Belfast-based Ashers Baking Company refused an order placed by a gay rights group for a decorated cake bearing the slogan ‘support gay marriage’.

The cake was also to have had pictures of two characters from Sesame Street, the name of the group, Queerspace, and the year it was founded, 1998.

The order from an activist, Gareth Lee, was accepted by shop staff.

However, the owners of the family-run company, Colin and Karen McArthur, and their son Daniel, who is manager, decided the message on the cake was contrary to their beliefs.

Mrs McArthur phoned Mr Lee to tell him the firm would not bake the cake, and to offer a refund.

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Shortly afterwards the Northern Ireland branch of the state equality watchdog, the Equality Commission, wrote to the owners saying they had broken the law by discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation and that legal proceedings were to start within a week.

The threat provoked widespread anger because the bakery company did not refuse to serve a gay customer, the behaviour which the sexual orientation regulations, passed by Tony Blair’s government in 2006, were supposedly designed to stop.

Instead the company is being dragged to court because it declined to bake a cake intended to advertise a political message which ran against the religious beliefs of the owners.

Another majority, 54 per cent, said the Prime Minister was wrong to assure Parliament that gay marriage ‘would not cause discrimination against those who believe it wrong.’ Fewer than one in five, 19 per cent, backed Mr Cameron.

The strong response suggests that the gay marriage cake affair has left the Prime Minister exposed to the charge that his same sex marriage laws have left opponents exposed to persecution.

The poll found 45 per cent think Christian businesses are being singled out for legal attack by gay activists, while 25 per cent disagreed. Some 55 per cent think the law should protect people from the compulsion to produced goods or services that violate their conscience, with 22 per cent against.

Only 30 per cent think enforcement of equality laws should always take priority over individual conscience, and 41 per cent say there should be legal room for conscience.

One senior judge, Supreme Court Deputy President Lady Hale, has said she believes there should be a ‘conscience clause’ in the law for Christians.

A think tank, the Christian Institute, is trying to raise the £30,000 required to mount a legal defence of Ashers.

Lawyers estimate the company faces a fine of £5,000, as well as legal costs if it loses in court.

Christian Institute director Colin Hart said: ‘These poll findings demonstrate huge public support for the Ashers bakery and they also demonstrate that David Cameron and the Equality Commission are completely out of touch with public opinion.

‘Gay marriage was introduced on the grounds of promoting equality. But this and other cases demonstrate that all it is doing is promoting divisions between people and fanning intolerance.

‘The Prime Minister assured the public that his gay marriage laws would not punish people who believe in the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. As we warned, these assurances are proving worthless. Innocent people are being bullied for attempting to live by their Christian conscience.’

Mr Hart added: ‘Mr Cameron should follow the advice of Baroness Hale and introduce a conscience clause to the law to ensure that families like the McArthurs can safely conduct their lives and business unmolested by meddlesome equality police.’

The ComRes poll was taken among 2,007 people on 16 and 17 July.

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Kate Garraway flashes her shapely legs in patterned high-waisted shorts as she steps out at the theatre in London

 

As summer temperatures rise in London, so too are many hemlines.

 

Kate Garraway showed off her womanly curves in a flattering pair of high-waisted shorts, when she attended the premiere performance of Aliens Love Underpants on Sunday.

 

As she stepped into the Leicester Square Theatre for the show, the bubbly TV personality wowed in her shorts, with featured black and white stripes and large blue dots.

 

Kate, 47, wore a matching loose blouse over a black camisole top, finishing off her stylish ensemble with a pair of nude stiletto heels.

 

The Good Morning Britain presenter recently opened up exclusively to MailOnline about her hopes of conceiving a third child.

 

 

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Kate, married to Derek Draper, is already mother to Darcey, 7, and 4-year-old William.

 

But she keeps an open mind when considering the possibility of extending their family.

 

She told MailOnline: ‘I’d absolutely love it if I had a third child but I am 47 now. To be honest I think it is pure greed wanting a third child in my case – I’ve got a healthy boy and a healthy girl.

 

‘I came to motherhood quite late and you love it so much you just want to carry on and have more and more, but life is quite full looking after those two.’

 

Despite adopting a realistic stance, she admits the ticking biological clock shouldn’t deter women from starting a family later in life.

 

‘You have to think about having a family when you’re ready and when you’re in the right relationship, and that can be at different times for different people,’ she said. 'I do think though that if you’re stressed about getting older then that can make it harder to conceive.

 

‘In a way you have to be relaxed and do what’s best but when considering you options in life as a woman you may have options to carry on behaving like a teenager for twenty years. The biological clock is ticking but you can’t get too stressed out about that.’

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When college sophomore Franklin Headen isn’t in class, he’s likely fitting models for a runway or styling them for a fashion spread.

 

Headen of Charlotte is an image consultant, stylist, designer, modeling scout and agent. He moves freely about the high-end world of fashion, yet he’s still a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

 

He styles professional models in swimwear and lingerie, but he also enjoys helping women in their 40s and 50s develop a wardrobe that’s right for them. His mother, Becky Headen, 49, says she may be part of the reason why.

 

“He doesn’t want me to embarrass him by how I dress,” she says.

 

Headen, 20, has helped his mom refine her look. “I basically had a uniform when I was a stay-at-home mom,” she says. “I wore the easy stuff.”

 

But her son convinced her to add color to her basic black-and-white wardrobe, experiment with make-up and grow her hair. “I used to think a woman in her 40s had to wear her hair above the shoulder.” Not so, says her son, who is likely to suggest (or insist) she change outfits before going out with him.

 

He gives the same push to clients who hire him, at $100 an hour, to purge their closets – an experience that can take from two to six hours, depending on the size of the wardrobe.

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Headen believes too many middle-aged women think they can’t look as stylish as they once did.

 

“Women get more insecure with their bodies and style as they get older,” he says. “I love being able to make a woman in her 40s feel as comfortable in her outfit as she did 20 years before.”

 

Some of Headen’s clients have a distinct fashion sense but lack the time to shop. Catherine Fortin, 49, a Charlotte-based education consultant, trainer and style/travel blogger, met Headen when he was a student at Northwest School of the Arts and she was teaching Spanish there.

 

Headen has helped stock her closet with everyday items and choose outfits for special events. “Frank understands my aesthetic.” He chose a Rag & Bone leather-and-mesh dress for her to wear to a N.C. Dance Theatre gala in 2011.

 

“I don’t like a lot of embellishment or bright colors,” she says. “But innovation is important.”

 

Anne-Scott Hatcher, 45, hired Headen to help tame her out-of-control closet. She works in her family’s commercial real estate business, so she has professional clothes. But she also has a wardrobe for her line dancing hobby and a daytime look she describes as “hippie/bohemian.” Hatcher was confident in her quirky style, but she had too much of everything. She needed to streamline.

 

The result of her five-hour session with Headen: 31 trash bags filled with clothes she intends to sell or donate. Headen also snapped 44 photos of complete outfits – with jewelry, shoes and scarves – so she has an easy reference for the looks she can create.

 

“There’s something so peppy about putting on a Franklin-approved outfit,” she says.

 

“I advise clients to dress for their body type,” Headen says. He may also offer a dose of tough love. “Some women hold on to clothes they haven’t been able to fit in for years,” he says. He encourages them to get rid of things that are wasting space.

 

A passion for fashion

 

Fashion is all Headen has wanted to do since he first scribbled his career goal in his Dr. Seuss’ “My Book About Me” when he was about 6: “Dress designer.”

 

Part of nurturing Headen’s talent meant moving him in 10th grade from Charlotte Country Day to Northwest School of the Arts. It also meant an internship with Charles Mo at The Mint Museum in the Historic Fashion Collection when Headen was 14.

 

The Mint offered even more opportunities. Headen was involved with the “Art of Style” exhibition in 2011. The Room to Bloom fashion show gave him the chance to meet Jack Alexander, Oscar de la Renta’s fashion show producer and runway stylist. “Uncle Jack,” as Headen calls him, taught the high school student about fittings, backstage management and runway styling.

 

Seeking inspiration

 

Charlotte is not a fashion hub, but it had an upside for a determined free spirit raised here. “Growing up in Charlotte gave me reason to dream and rebel,” he says.

 

“I draw inspiration from beach culture, androgyny, the female form, New York grunge, athletic wear and ’70s disco culture.”

 

He sees inspiration nearly everywhere. “Franklin is thinking about fashion 24/7,” says Nikki Krecicki, 21, a friend and frequent collaborator. Krecicki is a Charlotte native and a SCAD student studying fashion photography.

 

Krecicki and Headen have styled and shot three magazine covers, and they don’t have their degrees yet. Such early professional success is not unusual for SCAD students, they say.

 

Charlotte photographer Deborah Triplett has worked both sides of the camera. The former Los Angeles model doesn’t know Headen, but says his work doesn’t look like that of a student. “It’s obvious Franklin has an innate sense of style,” she says. “If I had a fashion shoot, I would not hesitate to try to get him on my team.”

 

‘A keen, talented eye’

 

“His styling, to my eyes, is fresh and modern,” Triplett says. “He appears to know the secret to great styling, which is … when to quit. He walks the fine line between showcasing the clothing and the woman wearing the fashion. Neither fights with the other. His styling makes it all appear effortless, but the reality is: It takes a keen, talented eye to do this. He’s a great editor.”

 

Being professional, but a little outrageous, is just one of Headen’s contradictions. His website and online persona, Frankly Headenistic, may seem at odds with the Eagle Scout badge he earned. And while the industry he loves is marked by superficiality, there’s a spiritual side to Headen.

 

“I have a relationship with a higher power, whom I choose to call God,” he says. “I wake up every day and try to live in God’s will. Being haughty, negative or judgmental is not who I am.”

 

Trusting in a higher power has been helpful, as being single-mindedly focused on a career goal since age 6 hasn’t ensured an easy path. Becky Headen says the family has endured its share of tragedy. She and her husband divorced when their boys were young, and her ex-husband, Mark Headen, died unexpectedly about four months ago.

 

Headen heads back to school in the fall, but he’s making a few stops before getting back to class. One was the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (where designers debut their swimwear collections) in Miami. That’s heady stuff for a college kid, but it’s nothing new for Headen.

 

“Franklin Headen is getting the work he deserves,” Triplett says. “(His is) definitely a name to watch in the fashion business.”

 

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