Gay employment rights are adopted

Homosexuals working on the Isle of Man are to be given new and improved employment rights.

A new clause has been adopted by the House of Keys that will protect employees from dismissal on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The bill was put forward as an amendment to the Employment Bill by Onchan MHK Peter Karran.

He said MHKs had done the "responsible thing" by acting in line with human rights legislation.

"The fact that the adverse publicity that would have come about helped to concentrate the mind," he said.

"But at the end of the day they've done the responsible thing.

"It makes a change that we act like a national parliament, and that we can be proactive rather than reactive in the sense that we don't have to be dragged off to a court before we have the chance to change the law."