A RIBBLE Valley lawyer has warned hotels offering civil ceremonies that they musn't discriminate against gay couples wanting to get married.

Carol Maher, of Clitheroe's Irene Chenery Maher and Co, says that East Lancashire's hotels will soon have to offer the same hospitality to same sex couples as more traditional couples.

If they discriminate against gay and lesbian couples, hotels could be in breach of the Government's new Equality Act, which comes into force from October.

Carol, a partner at the Church Brow firm of solicitors, said: "This issue has come to the fore after a hotel in Essex originally accepted a reservation to host a civil partnership reception, but then refused the booking on the grounds that it was policy not to take civil partnership functions.

"It claimed the staff member who initially took the booking had made a mistake, but essentially, the message it sent out was that there was no room at the inn for gays.

"The furore caused by this has made the front pages of the gay press.

"However, the new Equality Act, which is due to be implemented in October, is likely to make the hotel's ban illegal.

"As many Ribble Valley hotels are also popular wedding venues, their proprietors, managers and wedding co-ordinators need to be aware of the new act and the need to put any personal views to one side should they be approached by a same sex couple wanting to marry there or have their reception there from this autumn onwards."