Bermuda must protect citizens from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender, British MPs have said.

The recommendation, made in a report into the governance of the British Overseas Territories, has been welcomed by equal rights campaigners.

Former Government MP Reneé Webb tried in 2006 to get Parliament to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by amending the Human Rights Act.

The move was designed to protect people from discrimination on the basis that they are gay or that they are straight, with Ms Webb declaring at the time: "It's the right thing to do. We in Bermuda need to ensure that we join the democratic countries of the world and fight for freedom for all of its people."

However, MPs declined to debate her private member's bill and church leaders opposed to homosexuality also spoke out against it.

Backing the movement for change yesterday, the British MPs said: "We recommend that the Government should take steps to ensure that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender status is made illegal in all Overseas Territories."

They explained: "We received a number of submissions to our inquiry expressing concern about homosexual rights in some Overseas Territories. Brenda Lana-Smith, a post-operative transsexual from Bermuda, claimed she had faced abuse.

"She told us that Bermuda's Human Rights Act failed to criminalise discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or presented gender status and also called for legislation to recognise a post-operative transsexual's presented gender.

"Jonathan Suter, a Bermudian, and the Two Words and a Comma group also called for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation to be included in Bermuda's Human Rights Act."

Welcoming the resulting recommendations yesterday, Ms Webb said: "I look forward to the Bermuda Parliament complying with the recommendations of the report particularly on the grounds of sexual orientation which I fought hard to change."

The Two Words and Comma campaign is so named because that is all it would take to change the Human Rights Act. Hailing the British report, group member Natasha McDonald said: "This recommendation adds to the chorus of local voices already advocating for such legislative change including most recently Justice Carlisle Greaves in his strong statement during the sentencing of Rashad Cooper on Friday.

"With support from so many groups and individuals, we look forward to local efforts to amend the Human Rights Act bearing fruit in the near future."

Mr. Justice Greaves sentenced Cooper to seven years behind bars for attacking a gay man with a machete after taunting him over his sexuality. He commented at the time: "It is a human right of every citizen that he ought not to be discriminated against on the basis of race, his origin and such. This court can see very little difference between such rights and the rights and expectations not to be violently attacked on the basis of one's sexual orientation."

According to anti-conscription campaigners Bermudians Against the Draft (B.A.D), the UK report could also have positive ramifications for them.

They claimed in the Supreme Court earlier this year that the policy should be outlawed for discriminating against men, because only they are made to serve in the Regiment.

The Chief Justice ruled against them, but B.A.D founder Larry Marshall Sr. said yesterday: "As conscription as practised in Bermuda is blatantly sexist, this should go a long way in ensuring that it is abolished."

The British MPs raised the prospect that intervention from the British Government might be necessary to outlaw discrimination if the political will is not present locally.