Here are some BBC online news reports relating to the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007:

Cameron to back adoption row law
No exemption from gay rights law
Gay adoption rules 'rail-roaded'
Blair defends gay adoption laws

Contrary to the impression given by those news reports, the legislation discussed in the House of Lords is not a gay rights law, and neither is it a gay adoption law. It is an equality law which applies to heterosexuals as well as lesbian, gay and bisexual people, and its purpose is to make discrimination in the provision of goods and services unlawful.

So why has one BBC news online headline after another failed to give the law a sensible title. Yes true the "Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007" is a bit too long for a catchy headline but given that more details are be included in each news report, why didn't the newsroom just opt for "equality law"?

Why not have these headlines instead of the ones above:

Cameron to back equality law
No exemption from equality law
Equality regulations 'rail-roaded'
Blair defends anti-discrimination laws

Also, notice from the BBC News webstite how much coverage was given to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and his supporters compared to the amount of coverage given to equality supporters. BBC video clips, too, show a strong bias towards opponents of the equality laws. In this report (Realplayer) by Robert Pigott, equality supporters hardly get a look in.