Charlie Craig is a retired Army master sergeant who has served in wars and conflicts from Vietnam to the Balkans. So it was no big deal for him to brave frigid temperatures so he could speak out last night on an emotionally charged issue.

Mr. Craig was one of 85 people who spoke about a proposal before Allegheny County Council that would ban all forms of discrimination and also would create a human rights commission.

"I oppose this legislation because I think it's a government intrusion on our religion," Mr. Craig said. "It is going to force us to accept in our churches a lifestyle that is condemned by God, and I think it is wrong."

Councilwoman Amanda Green, D-Stanton Heights, introduced the proposal in July.

The bill would prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, gender identity or sexual orientation. It also would create a 16-member commission to investigate reports of discrimination in county government.

Mr. Craig, of North Fayette, said he "drove all this way on a very cold night because I wanted to support the people who believe what I believe."

Among them were people like Dave Cranston from West Hills Baptist Church in Moon, who said, "in the eyes of God, homosexual behavior is condemned."

But speaking in support of the bill, the Rev. Janet Edwards, a minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA, said, "religious arguments are bogus" when they engender a status quo that perpetuates bigotry.

"I am a Christian," she said, "and it grieves me to my core that fellow Christians are speaking out against this legislation."

Denise Edwards, a Wilkinsburg councilwoman, said the borough's council voted unanimously to support the county-wide measure.

"We should stop the discrimination of gay and lesbian people because they live among us," Ms. Edwards said. "They are my neighbors and they are your neighbors."

But the Rev. Carl Templin, a former Christian missionary in Ethiopia, said he does not see any widespread discrimination of gay people.

The bill is co-sponsored by council President Rich Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill, and council members Jim Burn, D-Millvale, Nick Futules, D-Verona, William Robinson, D-Hill District, Joan Cleary, D-Brentwood, and Charles Martoni, D-Swissvale.

"We have a lot of work to do with it," said Mr. Fitzgerald. "We still have to see whether we can afford to implement it and how it will be enforced, so we still have a long way to go."