MP Renee Webb?s bill to outlaw discrimination against gays stands on a knife edge ahead of today?s vote with the Opposition voicing more support than her own Government colleagues.

But several United Bermuda Party members appeared to be backing away after a massive lobbying effort by the Church.

The bill, which aims to add ?sexual orientation? to the list of things for which people cannot legally be discriminated against is the subject of a free conscience vote but last night there were signs support was slipping away.

Opposition MP Michael Dunkley said: ?I have been lobbied by the church many, many times in the last day or two ? by church members, reverends, elders.?

He said Ms Webb had not explained the intention of the bill.

?She dropped it in front of us and made some public statements.

?If she was serious then she would have done her homework and lobbied each and every one of us. She doesn?t live here, she jets in and jets out.

?I am disappointed by the way it has been carried out.?

Asked if the short Bill wasn?t self-explanatory Mr. Dunkley said: ?The reason I am concerned is while I will not support discrimination in any way, shape or form I draw the line ? and we will get to this point ? I don?t believe in same sex marriages.?

His party colleague Neville Darrell said Ms Webb had lobbied everyone in the House but he was still in the dark about the thrust of the legislation as their was no definition of sexual orientation.

?I want to know what it is ?I want to know what it is she?s defining. I think that?s reasonable.?

That attitude drew a fiery response from Ms Webb.

She said: ?If MPs don?t understand what the bill says I can?t explain it to them. What is there to explain? It?s a one liner.?

If MPs didn?t understand what sexual orientation was she urged them to go on to web search engine Google to find out.

?Whether it?s a red herring I don?t know, I think the support is still there.?

A straw poll by found seven MPs in favour, four against and six declining to comment.

Ms Webb said anything to do with sex made people very uncomfortable and she said at the time of the Stubbs Bill, which decriminalised homosexuality in 1994, MPs had also been fairly keen to stay silent about their intentions.

Progressive Labour Party MPs Nelson Bascome, Ottiwell Simmons, and Dennis Lister all said they were against the motion while UBP frontbencher Maxwell Burgess also indicated his opposition.

Mr. Lister said: ?Dennis Lister cannot support this type of thing. I won?t support this legislation whether it happens tomorrow or in five years time.?

Of the Government MPs contacted only Dean Foggo said he would vote in favour while Community Affairs and Sports Minister Dale Butler is also known to be in favour.

Government MP George Scott said he was waiting to hear the data supporting the need for a law change. Other matters were more pressing, said Mr. Scott.

However The Bermuda Rainbow Alliance, which supports rights for gays, has already given a dossier of complaints to Government listing people being evicted, denied jobs and becoming victims of smear campaigns.

Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said she was firmly in favour of the Bill because she was unequivocally opposed to all forms of discrimination ? a concept she said was lost among some of her opponents who were now happy to throw insults like ?house nigger? at UBP supporters without guilt or fear of legal reproach.

?No one jumped up and down. I understand what it?s like when rights are violated. We seem to cherry pick our principles.?

Shadow Transport Minister Jamahl Simmons said: ?I will vote for it.

?I don?t think people should be discriminated for what they do in their private lives although I am not a fan of the whole thing.?

And Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said: ?I?m inclined to support the motion if it comes to a vote.?

MPs will debate Ms Webb?s bill after working through the Time Zone (Seasonal Variation) Act 2006 which aims to follow the US by adding four weeks to daylight savings time.

Also on the agenda is the Public Transportation Board Amendment Act 2006, which will start the process of winding up the board and subsuming its powers into the Transport Ministry.

The Partnership Amendment Act 2006, described as housekeeping measure, will also be debated.