OutRage! is proposing a mass "Vigil for Equality" outside the House of Commons on the night MP's vote on equalising the age of consent.

      It is suggesting that the new Equality Alliance should organise a huge vigil in front of Parliament, similar to the lobby in 1994; and is proposing that the theme of the protest should be "16 is not enough! Scrap ALL antigay laws!".

      "Winning an equal age of consent will be an important advance", said John Hunt of OutRage!. "But it will still leave many other homophobic laws unchanged.

      "We have got to show the Labour Government that we won't be content merely with an equal age of consent. ALL antigay laws must go. We will not settle for anything less than TOTAL EQUALITY.

      "The politicans must not be allowed to limit gay rights to the single issue of the age of consent. We should use the vote for 16 to push forward the wider agenda of full human rights.

      "Many MP's think we will be content if they just equalise the age of consent. That is most assuredly not the case. We won't be satisfied until every discriminatory law is abolished. It is vital the lesbian and gay community tells Parliament that one reform is not enough. Equality at 16 has got to be the first step in a rolling programme of homosexual law reform", said Hunt.

      OutRage! wants the protest outside Parliament on the night of the vote to highlight six key civil rights demands:

1. the repeal of ALL discriminatory sexual offences
   -- buggery, gross indecency, soliciting and procuring;

2. legal recognition and rights for lesbian and gay couples;

3. the outlawing of discrimination based on sexual orientation;

4. repeal of Section 28 and the inclusion of lesbian and gay sexuality within sex education lessons in schools;

5. an end to the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces;

6. affirmation of gay parenting rights, including equality in child custody orders, fostering, adoption, and access to donor insemination services.

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