Premier Craig Cannonier is today urging parliamentarians to approve changes to the Human Rights Act which would prohibit age discrimination in all areas except the workplace and ban sexual orientation discrimination altogether.The Premier, who is off the Island, provided a summary of his planned presentation to the House of Assembly to The Royal Gazette (see page five).“The amendment to prohibit discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation is not about endorsing any kind of lifestyle. It is simply about protecting fellow citizens from mistreatment by others. It is about preventing injustice and it is about ensuring equal rights before the law — something everyone would want for themselves,” he would have said.“The time to act is now. Bermuda cannot continue to passively allow discrimination in any form to continue. It is an affront to the dignity of the individual; it dishonours the lessons of our history and spoils the promise of our future.”Government MPs are said to be solidly behind the proposals and the party whip will not be in operation. But the bill’s passage will be dependent on attendance today as Opposition MPs are divided on whether to support the proposals.Today’s debate comes on the heels of Opposition MP Wayne Furbert’s announcement that he may seek to include an amendment which specifies that marriage is between a man and a woman. Yesterday, Mr Furbert confirmed that he plans to propose an amendment stating that the bill could not override the Matrimonial Causes Act.But human rights advocates insisted that banning sexual orientation discrimination will not open the way to same sex marriage.“This advocacy group sought legal opinion on exactly Mr Furbert’s argument — that marriage could be considered a public service and therefore subject to the HRA amendment which covers employment, housing and public services — to ensure that we were not misleading the public in this regard. At the very least, significant modifications to the Marriage Act would be required in order to legally recognise same sex partnerships,” a spokesperson for advocacy group Two Words and a Comma said.“We also see the proposal as unwarranted. It is for the Bermudian community to decide what it wants with regards to same sex partnerships; it’s a separate conversation that is yet to be had. Extensive consultation has been carried out for several years to bring about the currently proposed Human Rights Act amendment, which is simply an anti-discrimination bill and which in no way conveys equal or special rights.“The same kind of conversations and consultation are necessary before anyone moves to define marriage for the community at large.”Mr Furbert was concerned because the Marriage Act 1944 does not specify that parties intending to be married have to be of different sexes.But lawyer Juliana Snelling pointed out in a Letter to the Editor that another law governing matrimony, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1974, specifically voids any marriage “where the parties are not respectively male and female”.Ms Snelling writes: “Same sex marriages in Bermuda are illegal. If we are going to get basic facts like this wrong as the premise for legislative debate, then we are in big trouble.”But she adds: “If there is any risk of the anti-discrimination amendment being sabotaged by the recent gay marriage scaremongering, then the simple solution at this stage is to provide an express exception in the Human Rights Act (there are many already) that uses words to the effect of: ‘Unlawful discrimination shall not be deemed to have taken place in contravention of this section by reason only of the refusal of the Registrar of Marriages or Government Minister or church minister to issue a certificate or licence for marriage under the Marriage Act 1944 on the basis that the parties are not respectively male and female.’“That way, the amendment passes on Friday without further exhausting debate and the gay marriage fight is saved for another day and no doubt, another generation.”Ms Snelling also notes that the prohibition of same sex marriage could have already been challenged as discriminatory on the ground of sex (gender).“Many jurisdictions consider the ban against gay marriage a gender discrimination issue and not a sexual orientation one.”The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda, a support and advocacy group for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Queer community said it was not “currently pursuing” marriage equality.“Our primary focus is to provide safe spaces for the LGBTQ community of Bermuda and protection from discrimination and violence. We do not support any legislation that seeks to exclude the LGBTQ community. We will continue to campaign for increased respect, and understanding of the LGBTQ community.“In an ideal political situation, our politicians would support complete equity.”Parliamentarians are also set to debate amendments to the Hotel Concessions Act.