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Plans in Bristol to cut back parkland bushes to curtail "inappropriate sexual activity" have run into opposition from activists who assert that the effort amounts to anti-gay discrimination.

The Daily Mail (U.K.) quotes a Bristol city council report: "As part of the consultation [about the plan to trim concealing shrubbery], concerns were expressed by the council's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group (and a small number of other consultees) that this action was potentially discriminating against gay and bisexual men whose activities on this part of the Downs were objected to by other members of the local community and Downs users."

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he article quoted Peter Wilkinson, the Head of Parks for the city council, who said, "The general public are unhappy about people taking part in lewd behavior in public spaces, whether it's between men and women or people of the same sex." However, Wilkinson continued, "We are working together with the Terence Higgins Trust to make sure any work we will do is sensitive. We're making sure people know what we are doing so we are not seen to be discriminating." The Terence Higgins Trust, which is primarily an AIDS organization, has distributed condoms in the area. The Trust reportedly refrained from comment.

A Daily Mail online article said that four firefighters from the nearby Avon Fire Service were disciplined last year after shining lights into the shrubs at night, leading to complaints of homophobic harassment.