Faith rally over gay rights law http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6243323.stm 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. Christians, Jews and Muslims will take part in the rally at Parliament. The Sexual Orientation Regulations, they say, limits their right to live according to beliefs. Gay rights groups called it "scaremongering". The rally will happen as Lords debate a call to scrap the law, which is already in force in Northern Ireland. The current government plan is for the regulations to also come into force in England and Wales. 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. Religious groups would be obliged to rent out halls for gay wedding receptions. Equally, gay bars would not be able to ban straight couples. Barrister Thomas Cordrey, of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, said the regulations did not "strike the correct balance" between two competing rights. 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. 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. 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 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. "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." 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. "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."
