GAY campaigners yesterday called for a tourism boycott of Orkney unless council officials allowed a local registrar to conduct the gay wedding of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, master of the Queen’s music, and his long-term companion.

The 72-year-old composer has threatened legal action after council officials banned his friend Charlie Ridley, the local registrar on the Isle of Sanday and a member of the Hell’s Angels, from officiating at the ceremony.

The event was to have seen Davies and Colin Parkinson, a 52-year-old builder, arrive on a burgundy miniature train called Molly on the Sanday Light Railway, a tourist attraction built by Ridley. They were to be overlooked by a herd of cattle and accompanied by music that Davies had composed.

They were to be “married” in a tea room by Ridley. All the islanders were invited, along with friends of the couple, including Dimitri Ashkenazy, the clarinetist, Kathryn Tickell, the Northumbrian piper, and a host of friends from the pop world.

However, the event is now on hold after council officials ruled that only a registrar based at Kirkwall, the islands’ capital, was authorised to conduct a civil partnership. This would involve the couple and their guests travelling 90 minutes by boat to the Orkney mainland.

Ridley was also told that even if the wedding did take place on Sanday, he would have to apply for a public entertainment licence for his railway, which costs £5,000 a year.

Davies, one of the world’s foremost composers who has lived on Sanday for almost 20 years, said the council was guilty of “downright discrimination” and he has pledged to challenge the regulations.

“Where is the problem? I thought a registrar was entitled to registrar. My solicitor is looking into this. I think it’s important that people can have the ceremony conducted by their own registrar in the place where they live,” he said.

“The council seems to be creating a two-tier system. I have had trouble with them before; in some ways they have been a marvellous council, in other ways they can be very short-sighted.”

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said that if council officials failed to back down on the issue then tourists — both gay and straight — should blacklist the island.

“A lot of gay people will view this decision as an attempt by Orkney council to frustrate parliament and the law,” he said. “The Orkney officials seem to be creating no-go areas for civil partnerships. It smacks of sexual apartheid.

“I’ve been a big fan of Orkney as a great holiday destination, but if this discrimination isn’t scrapped then there should be a tourist boycott of Orkney.”

Calum Irving, director of Stonewall Scotland, the gay advocacy group, said: “The fact that they are apparently not authorised to carry out civil partnerships for gay couples is both confusing and disconcerting. It’s very unfortunate that certain parts of the country are willing to tar the rest of Scotland with such blatant discrimination.”

Last year Ridley, a member of the Aire Valley chapter of the Hell’s Angels, based in Leeds, was told by Orkney council that it had no objection to him conducting the ceremony.

Shortly before Christmas, however, he was informed that senior officials had changed their mind as registrars on outlying islands did not have the powers to carry out same-sex marriages.

Since the Civil Partnership Act came into force in December 2005 there have been more than 16,000 gay weddings across Britain, including about 1,000 in Scotland. The most lavish was a £1m ceremony thrown by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, his companion.

Registrars on the staunchly religious Western Isles have refused to conduct ceremonies for civil partnerships, although the council has pledged to meet its obligation under new anti- discrimination laws.

Stephen Hagan, the council leader, said a meeting would be held this week to discuss whether to allow Ridley to conduct the ceremony.

“There’s absolutely no reason why the registrar from Kirkwall cannot travel to Sanday to conduct the ceremony,” he said. “We made a decision that only one or two registrars would be authorised to conduct civil partnerships as we didn’t anticipate it being a big issue here.

“We are keen to arrive at a conclusion as soon as possible and will do everything we can to have his wishes granted.”

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