A Christian bakery owner says he faces legal action unless he pays out compensation for refusing to make a pro-gay marriage cake.
Ashers Baking Company, in Northern Ireland, turned down an order for a cake with an image of Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie below the words "Support Gay Marriage".
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland took on the case on behalf of the customer, who is a gay rights activist.
Daniel McArthur, general manager of the bakers, said he has received a letter from the commission claiming he has breached anti-discrimination laws.
He said the company has been told if it does not offer compensation within seven days it will face legal action.
Mr McArthur said: "We feel that the Equality Commission are pursuing us because of our beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"It feels like a David and Goliath battle because on one hand we have the Equality Commission who are a public body, they're funded by taxpayers' money, they have massive resources at their disposal whereas we are a small family business and we have limited resources at our disposal.
"We're continuing to hold to the stand that we took originally because we believe it's biblical, we believe it's what God would want us to do, and we also think that if we do cave in to the Equality Commission at this point it'll put pressure on other citizens who are defending their view of traditional marriage."
Simon Calvert, spokesman for the Christian Institute, said: "It is simply baffling for a body supposedly working for equality to be threatening a Christian family with legal action, all because of a cake.
"The Equality Commission has taken four months to dream up new grounds on which to pursue the McArthur family, claiming that they've breached political discrimination laws.
"If supporting same-sex marriage is a protected political opinion, so is supporting traditional marriage. Yet the commission clearly favours one view over another and is prepared to litigate to prove it."
Ashers was founded in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast, in 1992. It has six shops in Northern Ireland and employs around 60 people.
The company was named after a verse from the Bible, which refers to "Bread from Asher".
A spokesman for the Equality Commission said: "The commission has now received a response from the company's solicitors stating that their view remains unchanged that their clients have not acted unlawfully, confirming they have no further proposals to make on their clients behalf and that they will accept service of a civil bill in regard to this matter.
"This case raises issues of public importance regarding the extent to which suppliers of goods and services can refuse service on grounds of sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion.
"The commission will be issuing a civil bill in this case and a decision as to whether or not discrimination has occurred will be a matter for the court."
The Northern Ireland Assembly has rejected several attempts to change the law on gay marriage.
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