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Faith rally over gay rights bill Gay rights laws facing challenge
(about 4 hours later)
Religious groups are to stage a protest calling for a halt to laws banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services. New laws banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services face a Lords challenge.
Christians, Jews and Muslims will take part in the rally at Parliament. The Sexual Orientation Regulations have been criticised by some religious groups who say people will not be allowed to act according to faith.
The Sexual Orientation Regulations, they say, limits their right to live according to beliefs. Gay rights groups called it "scaremongering". They are planning a rally later outside Parliament when a peer makes an attempt in the Lords to scrap the regulations.
The rally will happen as Lords debate a call to scrap the law, which is already in force in Northern Ireland. But gay rights group Outrage's Peter Tatchell said no mainstream religious groups were supporting the protest.
The current government plan is for the regulations to also come into force in England and Wales. The regulations are already in force in Northern Ireland and also due to come into force in England, Wales and Scotland, with timing details expected to be published within weeks.
It is a fundamental matter of freedom of conscience Thomas CordreyLawyers' Christian Fellowship Homophobia denied
The ban on discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexuality would mean hotels could be prosecuted for refusing to provide rooms for gay couples. 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.
Religious groups would be obliged to rent out halls for gay wedding receptions. Equally, gay bars would not be able to ban straight couples. Some critics also say 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.
Barrister Thomas Cordrey, of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, said the regulations did not "strike the correct balance" between two competing rights. Christians...cannot and must not be forced to actively condone and promote sexual practices which the Bible teaches are wrong Thomas CordreyLawyer's Christian Fellowship href="/1/hi/uk/6243949.stm" class="">Head-to-head: gay rights href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5187&edition=1" class="">Have your say
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. 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".
We're not curtailing religious freedom, people can argue against the practice of homosexuality if they must Labour MP Angela Eagle 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."
"It is a fundamental matter of freedom of conscience." 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.
And rally organiser Ade Omooba said unless changes are made the law could replace discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation with discrimination on religious grounds. Religious freedom
Critics say the regulations could mean a Christian, Jewish or Muslim printer being legally forced to print a flyer for a gay night club or a teacher breaking the law if he or she promotes heterosexual marriage over homosexual civil partnership. 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.
But Peter Tatchell, spokesman for gay rights group OutRage!, told BBC News: "People are still free to hold their beliefs, to live their lives according to their own morality and... their own religious beliefs. The law proposed does not change that one iota. 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.
"All it does is extend to lesbian and gay people the same protection against discrimination as is already existing to protect women, black people and Christians, Jews, Muslims and other people of faith." "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."
Equality Act campaigner Angela Eagle MP told the Today programme: "We're not curtailing religious freedom, people can argue against the practice of homosexuality if they must. 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. Alan WardleOutrage!
"What this law does is say it's wrong to put a sign outside a pub or a hotel saying 'no gays'. Actually it's also wrong and it's been illegal since the 1970s to put a sign outside a pub or a hotel saying 'no blacks', or in fact 'no Catholics' or 'no Protestants. 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 OutRage!, 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.