The Swedish Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) has concluded that a Christian-owned bakery in Stockholm discriminated when it refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, despite admitting that the bakery’s decision is protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
A small-scale bakery run by a Christian couple was approached in 2023 with a request for a wedding cake depicting two women. The couple declined since the bakery maintains a policy of not baking wedding cakes for same-sex weddings but says same-sex couples are welcome to order any other type of pastry.
The client filed a complaint with the DO, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation. After two years of review, the DO acknowledged that the bakery’s refusal is rightful and that creating a cake falls under “artistic expression” protected by the same convention.
However, the authority concluded that “the right to practice one’s religion and freedom of expression is not absolute and unrestricted” and argued that these rights can be limited when they affect others.
The case is similar to the incident of American baker Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who refused to bake a same-sex wedding cake in 2017 and later won partial support from the U.S. Supreme Court, and Ashers Baking Company in Northern Ireland, which was cleared by the European Court of Human Rights in 2014 after refusing to make a “Support Same-Sex Marriage” cake.
