The owner of a B&B who sparked a national outcry when he barred a gay couple from sharing a bed at his lodgings has repeated claims that he will go to jail before letting lesbian and gay people stay in his house.

Tom Forrest told a gay couple he would not allow them to share a bed in his Scottish Highlands lodgings, because homosexuality went against his religious beliefs.

Now he says that laws proposed by the government will not stop him refusing same-sex couples.

"I will still refuse them," Forrest told the Press and Journal newspaper.

"I have never been in trouble with the law in my life, but homosexuality is something that I totally abhor. I will be criminalised but this is a point of principle and a point of right."

The Equality Bill was debated in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, as it makes its final passage through parliament.

Amongst other things offered, the bill proposes the outlawing of discrimination in the goods and services sector, including discrimination from hotels and B&Bs.

The bill will mean that prejudice can be tackled through the legal system and could result in more rights for lesbian and gay people, as well as religious minorities.

But while many campaigners celebrated the move, Forrest said the new laws were "political correctness gone beyond a joke".

"I object to homosexuality on the grounds that it is totally unnatural and is against the principles and beliefs I was brought up with," he said.

"I find it totally disgusting."

Courtesy of the Gay.com