Christian printers fined for refusing to print same-sex ceremony invitations

A county Louth print and design company has been ordered to pay €2,500 to a gay man for refusing to print invitations for a same-sex, civil partnership ceremony. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that Beulah Print and Design discriminated against Jonathon Brennan on the grounds of sexual orientation under Section 3 of the Equal Status Act.

Beulah told the WRC that the refusal of this service was not due to Mr Brennan’s sexual orientation but was rather due to the subject matter which was contrary to their religious beliefs. They were not refusing the person, just the particular order.

They had turned down requests to print material depicting nudity before based on the same convictions. Beulah stated that they would have refused the same request if it had been made by someone with a heterosexual orientation. They had also served Mr Brennan happily for four years and would continue to do so in the future in respect of other material.

The WRC rejected their argument despite the Supreme Court in the USA and in the UK accepting the same argument in high profile cases in the last few months.

In a statement on the WRC’s finding, Beulah said that it rejected the ruling as it “simply acted in accordance with the light of our own consciences as followers of Christ”.

“For us, designing and printing invitations to such events would be the lending of our approval and even the promotion of the content and is therefore something we could never do.”