The 'gay cake' was eventually made in another bakery
The owner of Ashers Baking Company has been told to pay compensation for refusing to bake a cake which they say was "at odds" with their Christian beliefs.
A gay rights activist had asked Ashers bakery to bake a cake depicting Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie for an event on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in May.
But the Equality Commission took on the case of the customer, who say they asked for the cake to be baked to support and highlight the issue of gay marriage.
Company bosses have said that they've now received a letter asking that they pay compensation to the customer or they will face going to court.
General manager of the baking company, Daniel McArthur, said: "We feel that the Equality Commission is pursuing us because of our beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"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 will put pressure on other citizens who are defending their view of traditional marriage.
"We don't want to be forced to promote a cause which is against our biblical beliefs. We've had a lot of support from people who disagree with our stance on same-sex marriage.
"They think that we should have the freedom to decline an order that conflicts with our conscience."
John O'Doherty of gay rights group The Rainbow Project said: "The Equality Commission asked for an apology. They asked for recognition that it wouldn't happen again.
"There's going to be a court case around this, and this is going to get a lot more public attention and the discussions that are going to be held are going to be 'us versus them' and we have already seen that quite a lot.
"The reality is that we need to address the very serious issues that exist within our society around discrimination."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Equality Commission said they would now be pursuing a civil action.
It read: "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."