A LITTLE QUIZ for you: what fourletter word, starting with ‘C’, is the thing I most enjoy putting in my mouth? A clue you say? It’s got a ‘K’ in it. Oh for goodness sake, it’s cake you filthy pups. The sticky stuff has become an unlikely political weapon, and bakeries political battleground.
Not just any cake though: seditious, homosexual, blasphemous cake, like the Bert and Ernie confection that’s been causing a commotion in Northern Ireland for over a year now – perhaps the most ridiculous controversy around baked goods since Marie Antoinette told all those poor old French paupers to just suck it up.
It all started when a man called Gareth Lee asked for a cake to be decorated with the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie alongside the logo for ‘Queerspace’ group and the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’, in honour of Andrew Muir – Northern Ireland’s first openly gay mayor. For who could complain about Bert and Ernie and a bit of fondant icing, eh? Ashers, the bakers. That’s who. Turns out it’s run by evangelical Christians. Nightmare!