PETER TATCHELL asks: what is the point having out gay MPs if they don't support equality?

All six openly gay Labour MPs failed to support an amendment to the Human Rights Bill that would have given protection against discrimination to lesbians, gay men and people with HIV. The amendment - New Clause 10 - was defeated in the House of Commons in July by 234 votes to 18.

The refusal of these MPs to back equal rights calls into question the value of having out gay MPs. I would rather they stay in the closet and vote for equality than come out and stab us in the back.

What's important is not whether MPs are gay or straight - or even whether gay MPs are closeted or out. The key issue is whether they oppose discrimination and support equality. On the Human Rights Bill, all six out gay MPs have failed us.

Ben Bradshaw and Angela Eagle voted against New Clause 10. The other four - David Borrow, Gordon Marsden, Chris Smith and Stephen Twigg - did not vote. Perhaps they were sick or away on parliamentary business. An explanation might help.

The main sponsor of the age of consent amendment - Ann Keen - was no better. She, too, opposed New Clause 10.

Only one Labour MP defied the government to support the amendment - Jeremy Corbyn, the straight MP for Islington North. All other MPs voting for New Clause 10 were Liberal Democrats.

New Clause 10 sought to ensure that the rights and freedoms of the European Convention on Human Rights are guaranteed to everyone "without discrimination on any ground". This would have required the anti-discrimination clause of the Convention - Article 14 - to be interpreted to prohibit all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on a person's homosexuality or HIV status.

This was a simple, easy, no-cost amendment. It would have given the lesbian and gay communities valuable legal redress against discrimination. While it would not have remedied every form of inequality, New Clause 10 would have created the legal framework for overturning several key elements of homophobic discrimination.

This makes the votes and abstentions by Labour's out gay and lesbian MPs all the more shameful. I'd rather have no gays in parliament than these Millbank clones who refuse to support equal treatment for queers and people with HIV. They seem more interested in climbing the greasy pole to high government office than in the welfare of the gay community. To be blunt: it would be preferable to have more heterosexual MPs who support equality and fewer gay MPs who endorse discrimination.