Leading Article: Why was a European court needed to ensure gay rights?

THE SADDEST thing about yesterday's judgement by the European Court of Human Rights on the rights of gays in the armed forces is that it should have been necessary at all. Any self-respecting government, let alone one that espouses the cause of liberalising the laws on human relationships, should years ago have removed the right of the military to exclude anyone with homosexual leanings.

As it was, there was a weary tone to the Government's utterances yesterday. Lord Robertson, the Defence Secretary, indicated that the Government would comply with the Strasbourg ruling. But there was little obvious enthusiasm in his statement that the Government "has to accept" the decision of the court.

The most charitable interpretation is that the Government wants to avoid blame for a decision that may not go down a storm in middle England. Certainly, some are unimpressed. General Anthony Farrar-Hockley, former Allied Forces Commander, described yesterday's ruling as "ridiculous". In reality, he himself is liable to become an object of ridicule.

The social climate of this country has changed radically in the last 20 years. The Government should take that lesson on board, and ensure that future legislation reflects the nature of the new reality.

On a range of issues, the rights of gay people are severely limited. In the home, there is no equality between heterosexual and same-sex couples; if one partner dies, a long-term live-in partner might as well be a complete stranger, for all that the courts care about their rights.

On the question of who can say yes to what, the situation remains equally lopsided. Britain remains out of line with almost all the European Union in lacking an equal age of consent.

In the workplace, too, gay people do not enjoy rights that others take for granted. There is no protection against being sacked because of sexual orientation; the Sex Discrimination Act is held not to apply because men and women are equally vulnerable.

In short, the Government fails to legislate according to its proclaimed liberal convictions. It is crazy that European courts must make pronouncements to force the Government to make changes which common sense should have told it to introduce unprompted.

We are no longer stuck in the repressed world of the Fifties. For Britain to enter the 21st century with so much discriminatory legislation still in place shows a sad and unnecessary failure of nerve.