Three organisations are urging Government to fulfil a promise to ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation — amid fears that a planned amendment to the law has been shelved.

The Human Rights Commission, Bermuda Bar Council and Amnesty International Bermuda have joined forces to call for MPs to consider a change to the Human Rights Act as soon as the House of Assembly resumes next month.

Former Culture Minister Dale Butler pledged in April — while still in Cabinet — that the long-awaited amendment to ensure equal rights for all, regardless of whether a person is gay, straight or bisexual, would go before Parliament this autumn.

But HRC chairman Venous Memari said there was concern that, since his resignation in June, Cabinet had knocked back the plan and the amendment to the 1981 law would not now see the light of day.

The three groups, she said, were agreed that the law does not protect people from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation and needs to be swiftly changed.

Amnesty executive director Lucy Attride-Stirling added: "We want to ensure that the promises made in April are being followed and being kept."

Wayne Carey, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation, refused yesterday to answer questions on whether the amendment would be tabled.

"There is no new information to report on this matter," he wrote in an e-mail. During a subsequent telephone conversation, Mr. Carey would only say repeatedly: "I have nothing to say."

Ms Memari said in a letter to Amnesty earlier this month that a number of proposed amendments to the Human Rights Act were likely to be tabled in Parliament in November — but that they failed to "prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation", despite the recommendations of consultants and the HRC.

"Clearly, this glaring omission is a violation of all human rights laws and the right to human dignity," wrote Ms Memari.

Kiernan Bell, president of the Bermuda Bar Association, the governing body for lawyers on the Island, said yesterday: "The members of Bar Council unanimously agree on this issue.

"While we have not had the opportunity to consult our members at large, the Bar Council has no difficulty in joining the Human Rights Commission in urging the Government to amend the Act so that it is clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is not tolerated in this country."

Ms Memari said the HRC currently has no power to investigate alleged discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and complainants have no remedy in local law.

"The Human Rights Commission has been advocating for this for the last eight years," she said. "This is long-awaited by everybody in Bermuda."

Former PLP MP Renée Webb failed in her 2006 bid to get an amendment — vehemently opposed by religious groups — passed by MPs.

Pressure group Two Words and a Comma has since been pushing for the change. David Northcott, from Two Words and a Comma, said yesterday: "We aren't sure about what is happening. Our mission statement remains the same: to see sexual orientation included in the Human Rights Act."