Joe,

In very broad terms, UK Anti-discrimination law presently outlaws any form of discrimination, in employment, against any person on grounds of race, colour, religion, sex and sexuality.

There are excetions for positions that the employer can prove require a an exception. For instance, an employer can specify that a particular position can only be applied for by women; let us say the position of a counselor in a refuge for women escaping abuse in the home.

In the provision of services, however, things are a little different. A hotelier cannot refuse a room on grounds of race or colour, but they can refuse a room to a gay person or couple.

A Catholic adoption agency cannot refuse to counsel and provide their services on grounds of race or religious belief, but they can refuse to offer their services to a gay couple.

The new legislation is supposed - whether it succeeds in so doing remains to be seen - to consolidate and extend existing legislation, to close perceived discrimination loopholes. Those loopholes seem, in the main, to relate to discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and in the provision of services to the public.