The battle continues...

Sometimes I'm still shocked that in 2007 people can debate that there are certain members of the community who do not deserve the same rights as the general populous.
Unfortunately a lot of this seems to be fuelled by religious bigotry, which is rather steep considering the essence of religion is acceptance of all.
Politically it appeared the time had come (and not soon enough) to allow gays and lesbians equal access to the provisions of goods and services. Alas however some Christian rights groups have jumped on the band wagon with some support in the house of peers to have the bill amended in their favour. It does get to the point where such debate is ridiculous. How any group can claim that any other group should not have equal rights is beyond me. What should follow however is a healthy respect of each others beliefs where people are considerate of the one and other do not disregard what is important to them. Christians should allow a bill which says that gays and lesbians have the right to stay wherever they like without fear of retribution and discrimination and at the same time gays and lesbians should not choose to stay in the bed and breakfast of someone who has strong religious values. Simple healthy respect - everybody having equal rights and at the same time valuing difference in opinion and belief.
I will get off my soap box now, but before I do, the following quote from the BBC news website which has been covering this story has made me laugh over and over again...

"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."

(BBC News Website - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6243323.stm)

And there was me thinking printers were of a secular nature and that the last thing they would choose to do is discriminate. After all when you think about it, a printers job is to print colours, images and words on paper. Surely if a printer were a feeling object or being, it would get a lot of job satisfaction out of printing a 'gay flyer' - after all they are usually abundant in colour and dosed with exaggerated images. A printers dream!