[WillowTheWhisp]

I've tried to imagine myself personally in some situations where I would want the right to discriminate and all I can say is that I'm glad I'm NOT in that position. If I owned a conference centre for instance I would certainly want to be able to refuse the BNP the right to hold a rally there.

Looking at it from the opposite point of view - if I were being discriminated against I would rather know up front "we don't want your sort here" than to be grudgingly permitted access and served by someone who clearly resented doing so. I'd much rather be somewhere I felt welcome.

I was talking to someone on another message board who said he didn't have any double beds in his B&B because he didn't want any "goings on" under his roof even if they were married couples! If you'll pardon the expression, there's nowt so queer as folk.

Most of the children up for adoption are not babies, so birth control wouldn't make a great deal of difference. Many are older children often with disabilities. Some have living parents who are unable to cope with their needs. The Catholic adoption service is the only one as far a I am aware which continues to offer support to the adopted child and parent right up until they are 18, most stop at 16.

There are only two options as far as the Catholic church is concerned - to continue as at present or to shut up shop entirely. Do you seriously believe that the latter is the best solution? That would place a greater burden on the other agencies. Would they be able to cope? Many of you have said that any loving parent(s) is better than growing up in an orphanage - but with fewer people organising adoptions then more children would spent their childhood growing up in an orphanage. It would actually create the situation you say you don't want.

As I and others have said, the Catholic adoption service has never sought to infringe upon the rights of gay couples to adopt, they have up to now been directed towards the relevant agencies who happily deal with them. But now this law seeks to discriminate against Catholic beliefs. This isn't a law about freedom. It's a law creating discrimination, discrimination in the name of equality. Where will such discrimnation end? How many more faiths are we going to make laws against? Where is the "PC Brigade" defending these people's rights?

I'm not a Catholic but I will defend their right to their own beliefs, just as I will defend anyone's. They are not trying to impose their beliefs on others. They are the ones being imposed upon. They are quite happy to live and let live so why can't the non-Catholics allow them the same privilege?