During the second reading of the Marriage (same sex couples) Bill, Tory peer Baroness Jill Knight, who introduced Section 28, compared being gay to being blind, said that gay people were “delightful, very artistic”, and said the bill was “built on lies”.

The 85-year-old Conservative peer, made the comments during the second reading of the bill, the debate for which will take place today and tomorrow, before the vote.

She said “a higher authority” than any peer, had “already decided that people are not equal”, because “some people can see, others are blind”.

She went on to offer a stereotype about gay people, saying they are “delightful”, and “very artistic”, before observing that men can’t “bear a child”, that women can’t “produce sperm”, and that “no law on earth can change that”.

Continuing, she argued that the freedom to discriminate based on conscience should be preserved, and claimed that teachers would be made to “teach homosexuality”.

She finished by saying the Marriage (same sex couples) Bill, was “built on lies”, and said she would vote against it.

93 peers have signed up to speak in the House of Lords, during the debate around the bill today and tomorrow, when a vote will be held. Follow developments on the PinkNews Live Blog.

Baroness Knight’s full speech is available to read below.