My feelings are as mixed as an extremely well-kneaded basin of dough, following the decision of the appeals court in Northern Ireland to uphold a ruling against a bakery that refused to bake a cake emblazoned with a pro-gay-marriage message.

On one hand, I fully support gay marriage and am not well-disposed toward people who treat others poorly because of their sexuality, making me support the justices.

On the other, I am horrified that an independent business cannot choose which commissions to take, making me disagree with them.

For those unaware of the case, it revolves around a so-called "gay cake" that Gareth Lee ordered two years ago from Christian-family-owned Ashers bakery in County Antrim.

Lee wanted the cake decorated with the words "Support Gay Marriage".

The bakery refused to take his order.

The following two years were taken up with the original court case and the subsequent appeal, both of which came down on Lee's side.

The appeals court judges, whose decision was made public on Oct 24, said businesses that provide a service must provide it for all, not only those with whom they agree.

The three judges who heard the appeal said the fact that the bakers were asked to write a message in icing sugar did not mean they were being required to agree with the sentiment of the words.

I can certainly agree with that. Newspapers and TV stations, for example, do not have to agree with adverts they carry proclaiming a certain razor to be "the best a man can get". And transit companies do not have to agree with ads on buses declaring a West End play to be "another triumph". Similarly, as a journalist who has worked occasionally for small-town newspapers, I have written paid-for "advertorials" about products and services I did not like.

The newspapers, TV stations, buses and advertorials carry a paid-for message and no one involved in their creation has to change their opinions to match them.

But surely there should be a difference between what an employee can be asked to do and the expectations for a non-government-owned business.

Many people set up businesses in search of freedom and the ability to make their own decisions. They should be 100 percent free to take the commissions they like.

Can you imagine the late, great artist Lucian Freud painting a portrait of someone he did not find interesting, simply because he was a portrait painter and someone had the money to pay him?

Or an actor taking on a role he did not find challenging?

Or a football player compelled to toil for a team he did not want to play for?

No, they choose the work they want to do.

I would not expect to buy pork from a halal butcher, or be served at a swanky restaurant without a tie. This is perfectly acceptable, legally, because you cannot discriminate against someone for being a bacon-eating tie-wearer.

Legal protections ensure people are not discriminated against because of their ethnicity, disability, sexuality or gender. Everyone supports that. But Gareth Lee was not discriminated against because he was gay. He had been served many times at the bakery. The proprietors seem not to have had a problem with him, but with the cake he wanted to buy.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page13)