how can it be discriminatory to stop an illegal act.
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BRISTOL GAY ROW OVER DOWNS PLAN
BY TORBEN LEE T.LEE
07:00 - 07 July 2008
Campaigners claim gay and bisexual men in Bristol are being discriminated against - because of plans to remove dense undergrowth from the Downs.
Bristol City Council employees' Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group, also known as the Rainbow Group, which is regularly consulted by the authority, has hit out over proposals to clear an area next to Circular Road, a favourite haunt of homosexuals looking for sex.
A report to today's meeting of the council's Downs Committee says the scheme has been agreed as part of a management plan for the Downs.
The report said: "As part of the consultation, concerns were expressed by the council's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group (and a small number of other consultants) that this action was potentially discriminating against gay and bisexual men, whose activities on this part of the Downs were objected to by other members of the local community and Downs users."
But former Lord Mayor, Tory councillor for Stoke Bishop, and Downs Committee member Peter Abraham rubbished suggestions of discrimination.
"How can it be discriminatory to clear land that might stop what is an illegal practice?" he said.
The report says: "It is important to recognise that the area is part of the Avon Gorge Site of Special Scientific Interest and removal of scrub is in fact driven by policy imperatives to open up this part of the Downs and Gorge landscape, which has become overgrown over the past two decades, damaging the area's wildlife value - in particular the gorge's plant communities."
Mr Abraham said: "We need to manage the Downs properly. For a long time we have been told that the scrub land needs to be opened up.
"I find it offensive to suggest that by taking this action - which might stop people collecting to carry out what some might describe as illegal acts and certainly offensive behaviour - you are being discriminatory."
No one from the Rainbow Group, whose views are the ones quoted in the report, was available for comment last night. Members of the independent Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Forum said the comments made in the report had not come from them.
A row blew up last October when it was revealed by the Bristol Evening Post that four firefighters were disciplined for allegedly disturbing a gay sex session on the Downs, when they shone their torches into the undergrowth.
A man complained that their actions were homophobic. After a three-month investigation, senior officers fined the four up to £1,000 and transferred them to other stations in the area.
Later last autumn the Post revealed that an Aids charity was giving out free condoms in an area of the Downs popular with people engaging in outdoor sex.
The Terrence Higgins Trust, which has offices in Bristol, regularly sends teams of workers up to the area to hand out safe-sex advice.
Charity leaders insisted their actions did not encourage people to break the law in an area which has become well known after dark for 'doggers' - people who enjoy engaging in outdoor sex.
Police also denied they allowed the area to be used as an outdoor sex area by turning a blind eye.
A police spokesman said at the time: "Last year saw 250 people arrested throughout the force for offences including outraging public decency to kerb crawling. Unfortunately, there are a minority of people who partake in sexual acts in public places in certain areas which are not only against the law but are also offensive to members of the public."