another win for us!

New laws banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services face a Lords challenge.
The Sexual Orientation Regulations have been criticised by some religious groups who say people will not be allowed to act according to faith.

They are planning a rally later outside Parliament when a peer makes an attempt in the Lords to scrap the regulations.

But gay rights group Outrage's Peter Tatchell said no mainstream religious groups were supporting the protest.

The regulations came into force in Northern Ireland on 1 January and the government is planning to introduce them in England, Wales and Scotland, by April.

Homophobia denied

Critics say the regulations would mean hotels could not refuse to provide rooms for gay couples, and religious groups would be obliged to rent out halls for gay wedding receptions.

Some also argue a Christian, Jewish or Muslim printer could be legally forced to print a flyer for a gay night club, or a teacher would have to break the law to promote heterosexual marriage over homosexual civil partnership


Democratic Unionist peer Lord Morrow has put forward a motion calling for the Northern Ireland regulations to be annulled and amended - to be discussed in an hour-long "dinner debate" in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening.

Barrister Thomas Cordrey, from the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, which has organised the rally, denied the group was homophobic, saying the regulations did not "strike the correct balance".

He said: "Christians have no desire to discriminate unjustly on the grounds of sexual orientation, but they cannot and must not be forced to actively condone and promote sexual practices which the Bible teaches are wrong."

He is backed by Bishop Michael Reid, founder of the Christian Congress for Traditional Values, who said discrimination was wrong, but so was discrimination against Christian values.

Religious freedom

But supporters of the regulations say they simply extend to gay people the same rights that had been granted to people of different faiths in 1998.

Labour MP and Equality Act campaigner Angela Eagle told the BBC's Today programme: "We're not curtailing religious freedom, people can argue against the practice of homosexuality if they must.

"What this law does is say it's wrong to put a sign outside a pub or a hotel saying 'no gays'...That is right, proper and moderate."

The National Secular Society accused religious groups of "gross exaggeration" to get the law annulled. President Terry Sanderson said: "Parliament must not pander to their bigotry."

And Alan Wardle, spokesman for gay rights group Stonewall, told BBC News: "Some of the things that we've come across are where schools aren't tackling homophobic bullying properly, where people have been struck off by GPs because they were gay.

"These laws will prevent that kind of discrimination - not some of the lurid things that have been said about forcing people to promote a gay lifestyle."

In a statement on Tuesday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews distanced itself from the protest, saying the regulations would "provide a further platform to combat discrimination in this country".

But it said it hoped the regulations would be "framed in such a way that allows for both the effective combating of discrimination in the provision of goods and services whilst respecting freedom of conscience and conviction".

A High Court judicial review against the regulations in Northern Ireland, brought by the Christian Institute, will be heard in March.


www.bbc.co.uk