Religious Objection, Compelled Speech, and Compelled Acts

The paper starts with an acknowledgment of the force of the argument, relied on by the UK Supreme Court in Lee v. Ashers Baking Company, that it would be incompatible with freedom of expression to compel a person to express a certain view, such as support for same sex marriage. It examines the rationale for this argument and asks whether or to what extent this rationale applies not only to expression but to acts more generally, such as the acts of selling a wedding cake to a gay couple or selling wedding cakes that will be used to celebrate same sex weddings.