Legal recognition for same-sex partnerships and the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt and foster children are among the dozens of recommendations in the latest report from the Equality Authority.
The report also recommends that all Government agencies should "equality proof" their services, ensuring that all nine categories covered by equality legislation are covered.
The grounds on which legislation outlaws discrimination in employment and the provision of services are gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, race, religion, age, disability, and membership of the Traveller community.
This report specifically deals with inequality because of sexual orientation. It recommends the funding of a gay, lesbian and bisexual network by organisations such as the Combat Poverty Agency, and the integration of gay and lesbian groups into local planning organisations such as area development partnerships.
Broadcasting organisations should consider developing programmes aimed at addressing prejudice against homosexuality, and gay, lesbian and bisexual people should be involved in the development of education policy by the Department of Education, according to the report.
Most debate is likely to be generated by the proposals for legal recognition for same-sex partnerships, and for the right of gay, lesbian and bisexual people to adopt and foster children.
The report points out that there is no legal recognition for same-sex partnerships in Irish law, and, indeed, very little recognition for non-marital heterosexual unions.
This has a major impact on individuals' rights to pensions, property, inheritance, taxation and welfare entitlements.
"The vulnerability experienced by all couples during times of death or serious illness of a partner, the anxieties involved in child rearing and child custody, are all exacerbated for same-sex couples," the report says.
It recommends a number of legal reforms, including a constitutional amendment and, more immediately, the right to nominate a next-of-kin for medical issues, a beneficiary of pensions and inheritance and the right to nominate a partner as co-parent or guardian of a child.
This would arise where the child was the natural child of one of the parties. Where this was not the case, and the question of adoption or fostering arose, the report recommends the same rights should operate for same-sex couples as heterosexual couples, and decisions should be based on the rights and needs of the child, while attaching responsibilities to parents and carers.
The report also urges training for health professionals in the specific needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, pointing out that there are higher levels of depression and suicide among them because of their experience of discrimination and, sometimes, violence.
It urges employers' organisations to tackle harassment at work, a common experience for gay and lesbian people, and the development of equal opportunities policies.
Speaking at the launch of the report yesterday, Mr Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, said: "The report seeks new approaches to differences, approaches that move from hostility and denial to acknowledgment and valuing of difference. It establishes an agenda for change based on identifying the practical implications of difference and accommodating these in the way we organise our society."
Dr Maureen Gaffney, chairperson of the National Economic and Social Forum, which has undertaken to seek the implementation of the report, welcomed its publication and said the NESF would pursue it vigorously.
She said she could recall a time when people were forced into a life they did not want, including marriage and bringing children into the world, where those children were still suffering from the effects.
Ms Ailbhe Smyth, of the Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre in UCD, said this was a landmark report and marked an affirmation of the presence of gay, lesbian and bisexual people in our society.
"Equality is of no use if it is only an aspiration," she said. "We must establish diversity as the norm."
The full text of Implementing Equality for Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals is available at http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/