GENEVA, 9 February 2020, TON: Switzerland votes in a referendum on 9 February on a new law against homophobia that is opposed by the populist right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

The new law would widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on different grounds including sexual orientation.

Campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, founder of an association of gay teachers, is happy with the progress and hopes people will be stopped from beating on the grounds of sex orientation.

The change was passed by the Swiss Parliament in 2018 but critics, who believe it will end up censoring free speech, have forced a referendum on the issue.

Eric Bertinat, an SVP local lawmaker in Geneva, was of the view that he believed the law was part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction for gay couples.

Marc Frueh, head of the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a party which value Christian ethics, has termed the law as a "censorship law".

All of Switzerland's major parties except the SVP, the biggest political force in Parliament, support the law.