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 UK Lords Nix Expanded Gay Hate Law
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: April 23, 2008 - 3:00 pm ET
(London) A bill to toughen Britain's hate speech
law banning attacks on gays has been defeated in the House of Lords.
The bill would have provided for jail sentences
up to seven years for anyone convicted of using threatening language on the
basis of sexual orientation.
The legislation already had passed the House of
Commons.
The Lords voted 81 to 57 to strip prison
sentences from the bill, leaving it toothless.
The vote leaves the Labor government with two
choices: either let the bill die, or use a procedural vote in the Lower House to
override the Lords.
Even some gay rights advocates, including Peter
Tatchell, opposed the bill, saying it would hamper free speech.
Church leaders also fought the legislation
claiming it could be used to silence any criticism of homosexuality from the
pulpit.
Comedic actor Rowan Atkinson said that if the
bill were enacted it would bar humorists and comedians from characturizing gays.
The bill was put together with the help of LGBT
rights group Stonewall.
Stonewall director Ben Summerskill dismissed the
criticism of the legislation saying people could still criticize homosexuality as long as they were
"temperate and polite".
Attempts to charge people with homophobic speech
under existing law has been met with failure.
Similar hate speech laws in Europe and Canada
have been met with mixed results as judges attempt to balance hate crime laws
with free speech and religious freedom protections.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has not indicated
what his next step will be.
©365Gay.com 2008
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