Anglican Archdeacon Arnold Hollis hit out after numerous politicians attended a 'United In Faith' church rally at the weekend. The controversial rally was condemned by some churches after organisers said they would use the meet as a platform to denounce gay rights.

At the rally, speakers urged Government not to "have sins legalised" by amending the Human Rights Act, thereby making it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their sexuality.

That proposal was put forward by Government backbencher Ren?e Webb in the last session of Parliament, but controversially rejected after MPs failed to debate the matter. Ms Webb has vowed to reintroduce the bill when Parliament reconvenes next month.

In a letter to the this week, Archdeacon Hollis accused Parliamentarians of trying to hoodwink the public and of failing to show leadership.

"The politicians backed the Faith Initiative because they feel they can dupe the people into believing that they are in sync with the Church, and therefore the populace," he wrote.

This week the e-mailed Government's Department of Communication and Information director, Beverle Lottimore, asking for Mr. Scott's reaction to Archdeacon Hollis' comments. No response was given by press time last night.

Premier Scott has remained almost completely silent on the issue of amending the Human Rights Act ever since the controversy erupted in the summer.

The Premier failed to state his position when Ms Webb's bill was debated in the House of Assembly in June. He later explained that he understood the current Act embraced all sections of society and therefore no amendment was necessary. He added that, if a test case showed that gays were not protected by the Act, Government might revisit the issue.

Several lawyers subsequently poured scorn on the Premier's interpretation of the law, branding it "nonsense". Legal experts pointed out that current legislation lists the grounds on which it is unlawful to discriminate against someone ? for example age, sex and race ? and that sexual orientation is not included.

And Mr. Scott's own argument was further undermined when a complaint of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was brought against Government by a transvestite who was barred from taking part in the Bermuda Day Parade because of his sexuality.

That complaint was rejected by the Human Rights Commission because there were no grounds under the Act on which to proceed with a formal complaint.

Since August 21 this newspaper has repeatedly asked the Premier to clarify his position on the matter. In the past two months Ms Lottimore was e-mailed on at least 11 occasions by a reporter, who also left messages on her voicemail several times a week. Two hard copies of our questions were also delivered to Ms Lottimore's office.

The DCI chief responded to our requests for information once ? informing us that Mr. Scott was on vacation on that particular week and was therefore unable to answer our questions.

We did make direct contact with Ms Lottimore for the first time on Wednesday. When asked if she would be able to help us with our inquiry she replied: "I'll see what I can do."

When asked if she had been able to do anything in the eight weeks since we first put the question to her, she declined to comment and hung up.

Premier Scott has also been bombarded with e-mail requests from this newspaper. No response has ever been received.

And Government's top lawyer, Attorney General Larry Mussenden, has also been frequently contacted by e-mail and telephone, asking for his view on whether the law should be changed. Again, no reply to this newspaper has ever been received.