Gay rights law 'being forced through'

By Philip Johnston
London Telegraph
Nov. 22, 2006

Controversial new gay rights laws are being bulldozed through parliament despite protests from Churches and other groups.

The Sexual Orientation Regulations, which the Government appeared to have dropped a few weeks ago, are being fast-tracked in Northern Ireland, using direct rule powers.

They have even be toughened up in what critics believe is a dry run for a similar move in the rest of Britain next spring.

The legislation would prevent gays or lesbians being discriminated against in the "provision of goods and services".

This could include being turned away from a hotel or a shop but might also require schools to give equal prominence in sex education classes to both homosexual and heterosexual practices.

Faith groups are concerned that they will no longer be able to put forward a strongly-held belief that homosexuality is a sin. Churches have said they also object to being forced into letting same-sex couples adopt children in their care.

The UK-wide regulations were due to be voted on in parliament last month but the Government put them off for six months because of an unexpectedly high number of responses to a consultation exercise.

However, they have now been slipped out in Northern Ireland after just a few weeks of consultation and are due to come into force in the province on Jan 1.

Critics yesterday said the regulations are tougher than originally proposed because they make harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation illegal and not simply overt victimisation.

This means that if a homosexual person feels their "dignity has been violated" or that they have been subjected to a ''humiliating or offensive environment" they can sue.

The Lawyers' Christian Fellowship said the consultation had not asked a question about harassment and the decision to proceed was "undemocratic and misleading".

It added: "The potential for an aggrieved student to sue his faith school – if they taught from the Bible about the importance of marriage and that promiscuity or sex outside marriage is wrong – is alarming," it said.

"He would simply need to argue that as a gay student, this teaching put him in a 'hostile' or 'insulting' environment."

The LCF said a gay man who went into a Christian bookshop could object on harassment grounds if there were books or posters promoting traditional families and marriage.

The regulations state that ''a person subjects another to harassment... where, on the ground of sexual orientation, he engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating his dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment".

Faith groups have so far unsuccessfully pressed ministers to grant an exemption for Churches and religious organisations. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders have all voiced concerns that their priests may be obliged to bless same-sex unions.

The Roman Catholic Church says its nine adoption and fostering agencies would be at risk of closure if the Government tried to make them place children in the care of gay couples.

Christian marriage preparation and guidance agencies might have to cater for same-sex couples. All secondary schools in Britain would be compelled to promote homosexual sexual acts on an equal footing to the conjugal love of married heterosexuals.

The Department for Communities and Local Government, in charge of the policy in England and Wales, has delayed implementation of the regulations while it considers some 3,000 responses to the public consultation.

But in Northern Ireland, which is run from Whitehall in the absence of a devolved administration, the consultation closed only in September and the new regulations were tabled just six weeks later.

Northern Ireland is increasingly being used a test-bed for policies. Tories believe new property taxes based on capital values, which will come into force in the province next April, will eventually be introduced in the rest of the UK.