The Progressive Labour Party is ?anything but progressive? after it conspired to sink Renee Webb?s gay rights bill, says party supporter and former MP Julian Hall.

And he said Alex Scott?s administration was helping to pave the way for prejudice to prosper by not supporting legal protection for those discriminated over their sexuality.

He said: ?It isn?t for me to ?out? anybody but they have enough gay and bisexual members in their own ranks, I would have thought, to protect.

?And there are enough gay and bisexual members within this community who don?t have the protection of being public figures or being particularly wealthy or well placed.

?It speaks volumes about the retrograde nature of this community.

?It sends a message that we are very, very backward and it sends a message out to those in the community who will encourage hatred and attacks on people because of their sexual preferences. It?s scary.?

Instead of taking up Ms Webb?s bill as its own, the party had worked to scupper it, lamented Mr. Hall.

?What?s becoming increasingly clear, particularly in this administration, is that Alex Scott is probably more conservative than the most conservative of the UBP administrations in the past.

?Many people who spent their lifetime looking for a PLP government are now becoming quite shocked about its reactionary tendencies.

?They expected more.

?Many of us are becoming increasingly unhappy with the retrograde, repressive nature of this Government.

?It?s anti-democratic, it?s authoritarian ? it?s anything but progressive. This is another example.?

He said Government?s futile bid to stop drag queen Mark Anderson (aka Cybil Barrington) from appearing in the Bermuda Day parade had foreshadowed Friday?s illiberal stance.

?They ran a coach and horses through the rights of this young man. I hope he takes legal action. People have to stand up against these kinds of Governments.?

Mr. Hall said Renee Webb was ?astonishingly brave? to champion the bill.

Praising her presentation which he said was well researched, Mr. Hall said: ?I think Renee Webb showed tremendous respect for the religious leadership in this community while at the same time she exposed the opposition to this legislation as fundamentally un-Christian.

?She exposed it thoroughly, I was so impressed by her analysis of how the history of religion in human society had contributed to the greatest tragedies including slavery and the oppression of women.

?There was a conspiracy by both political parties to defeat the measure without even sensibly debating it, they have short-changed the Bermuda public by behaving in this way.

?Both political parties showed an astonishing lack of leadership and guts.

?We have a serious leadership void in this country.?