Gays in Bermuda are not looking to get married - what they really want are the same protections as other people under the Human Rights Act.

Last week Opposition Sen. Leonard Santucci called for discussion on the issue of gay marriage, saying that the current controversy in the US was likely to spread to the Island.

But members of the gay community told The Royal Gazette yesterday that what they want to see are protections under the Human Rights Act if they are fired from a job or evicted from their apartment based on sexual orientation.

Gay marriages have been legalised in Canada, Hawaii and Alaska, and will be legalised in Massachusetts in May.

The issue made headlines in the US recently when mayors in San Francisco and New York state started marrying gay couples and US President George W. Bush called for a Constitutional amendment establishing marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Lawyer Liz Christopher, who has spoken out on the issue previously in Bermuda, said sexual orientation needed to be added to the protected categories section of the Human Rights Act.

Protection under the Act would ensure gays are protected from discrimination in the same way that people are protected on the basis of gender, religion, race and political beliefs.

“The perception is that gays are protected under the Human Rights Act, but they're not at all. People remember the Stubbs Bill and how it happened ten years ago, they don't remember how limiting it is. If you have no protection under the Human Rights Act who's going to think about getting married?” said Ms Christopher.

Homosexuality between males was only decriminalised in Bermuda in 1994 amidst a flurry of controversy. Previously, the penalty for homosexual sex between consenting males over the age of 21 was up to ten years imprisonment.

Nicky Bowers, spokesperson for the Bermuda Rainbow Alliance, agreed with Ms Christopher: “We can still be fired from our jobs, evicted from our homes, there are stories in community about people who suffer discrimination of this kind. I have hope Bermuda as a progressive nation will offer protection to all of its citizens.”

Ms Bowers pointed out that the South African Human Rights Act includes gays as a protected category. The country also has hate crime legislation in place to deal with gays who may be victims of these kinds of crimes.

In Bermuda, schools have set policies to protect gay students, but there are no such policies to protect employers.

“I really take the Human Rights Commission to task.

“Part of their mandate is to educate and inform. While we have this warm and fuzzy language in the Human Rights Act about the human family, gays are left out,” she said.

Ms Bowers pointed out that gays do not receive the same property rights and protection through the legal system as heterosexual couples or the same rights as common law couples. She spoke about a lesbian friend who always paid her rent on time, but lost her apartment after the landlady discovered her sexual preference.

The Royal Gazette spoke to members of the gay community about the topic of gay marriages. All of them wanted to remain anonymous out of fear that a family member, friend, or employer discover their sexual orientation.

A 22-year-old gay man, who did not wish to be named, said it was too soon to consider marriage since gays are still striving for community acceptance in Bemruda.

While the gay lifestyle remains as a popular entertainment source in television sitcoms and in the movies, most lesbians and gays do not live the open lifestyle characterised by the movie industry, he said.

“The world isn't an equal place, and at the moment it's just becoming newly acceptable to be gay. Bermuda is three steps behind the rest of the world and since the issue isn't taken seriously by the rest of the world why should it be any different in Bermuda?”

A 54-year-old Bermudian man who has been living openly as a gay person, said gays want to distinguish themselves from “straight” couples.

He said he doesn't know any gays who are interested in getting married, but hopes the topic will be addressed in the future.

“If I found the right person and wanted to start a family and legally I wanted to get married then I would want to see the topic addressed,” he said.

A young lesbian woman told The Royal Gazette that she and her partner hope to have legal recognition as a couple.

“I'm always aware that I walk a very thin line with exactly how open I can be with my lifestyle,” she said.

Health and Family Services Minister Patrice Minors has said she did not believe a family with two gay parents was representative of a family based on moral values.

Mrs. Minors said if she was approached by members of the community to consider legalising gay marriage she said it wouldn't receive an endorsement from her and a family with two parents of the same sex was not a family based on moral values.