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Northern Ireland Assembly Fails to Stop UK Homosexual Law, Christian Group Files Suit

By Peter J. Smith

BELFAST, December 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recent proposal to condemn the United Kingdom's new government regulations forbidding discrimination on sexual orientation narrowly ended in defeat in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday, reports the BBC. It has prompted Christians to take other courses of action to stop the new law. 

For two hours at Stormont, assemblymen debated a motion proposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to condemn the UK government's Equality Act or Sexual Orientation Regulation, which it argued shall place Christians and their organizations on the "wrong side of the law", forcing them to provide goods and services to homosexuals regardless of their moral and religious convictions and opening them up to charges of harassment.

Apparently the motion failed when Sinn Fein, a nationalist party in Northern Ireland claiming to represent the interests of the Catholic minority, cast the decisive vote killing the motion by using the vote of a deceased assembly member, Michael Ferguson of West Belfast, to create an even split in the Assembly: 39 votes in favour, with 39 against.

"This motion is part of yesterday's agenda, part of the bad old days of the past," said Caitriona Ruane, Sinn Fein's equality spokeswoman. Ruane added "days of second-class citizenship and hiding our identities are gone" and accused the DUP of "whipping up homophobic sentiment with the motion."

However, members of both the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party argued that everything from Christian-run businesses, schools, adoption agencies, and charities down to bookshops and bed-and-breakfast homes could face legal penalties "if they refused access to their goods and services on ethical grounds." 

"All six of the world's major religions are opposed to homosexual practice. Judaism, Islam and Christianity all teach that homosexual practice is sinful," said DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson. "The regulations will interfere with the freedom to manifest one's religion because these are new restrictions."

In June, the Church of England objected that the 2006 Sexual Orientation (Provision of Goods and Services) Regulations - now the Equality Act - would also force their churches to provide services to homosexuals or face legal consequences. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061209.html )

On BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan show, Antrim Deputy Mayor Adrian Watson said that although he believed in "total tolerance to the gay community" he felt he could not open up "a bed and breakfast in a family home with three young children" to homosexual couples.
 
"The difficulty would arise because of the logistics of the bed and breakfast - if it was a same sex couple - and because my wife has strong Christian views she felt it was difficult to facilitate that," said Watson, who added his 14 year old daughter would be scandalized by a same-sex couple sharing a double room.

The Equality Act is due to come into effect January 1, 2007, however the Christian Institute, a group representing 15,000 Christians, has decided to take the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain to court to try to stop the implementation of its regulations.

Colin Hart of Christian Institute said the government's new regulations have "trampled over" the concerns of religious people and "almost appear to establish a right for homosexuals not to be disagreed with."
 
"It is a preferential status which will drive a coach and horses through religious liberty," he said. "We're taking action to protect the many Christian people in Northern Ireland who will become victims of frivolous accusations if these regulations become law."

See Related Coverage:

Church of England Warns New Laws Will Force Church to Bless Gay Unions
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061209.html ;

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