Revised letter to the Guernsey Press

There has been a glut of coverage in the Press recently regarding the issue of the homosexual age of consent. It appears to me that many of your correspondents are missing the point and turning a political issue into a religious one.
Everyone has the right to express their views, but it is beyond me why certain correspondents should think that their religious views have any relevance to this debate. It is my understanding that the Church and the State were separated a long time ago and that is exactly as it should be.
I am also puzzled as to why your Christian correspondents are so concerned about this issue at all. The debate does not concern the legality of homosexuality; that matter was properly dealt with a long time ago. Bearing in mind that a Christian’s point of view is that all homosexual activity is “wrong”; I cannot see what difference a change in the age of consent makes to them.
In any case religion is, or should be, a personal belief with each individual having the right to choose for themselves. Politics and law however are matters for the public domain and it seems to me that the only political issue at stake here is equality. Would it be acceptable to say that women could learn to drive at 17 but men had to wait until 19? Or that those with brown eyes could drink in pubs at 18 but those with blue eyes not before reaching 20? Of course not!
We supposedly live in a democratic society where each individual regardless of race, creed or gender has the same rights and privileges as everyone else. By that same token, all laws should apply equally to each individual. The discrepancy between the ages of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals is in direct violation of this simple premise; it implies that one section of the community is not equal to another.
Personally, I do not really care whether or not the age of consent for homosexuals is lowered, but one thing I am sure of is that it should be made the same as the age for heterosexuals. The choice, therefore, is simple: either lower the age for homosexual consent to 16, or raise the age for heterosexual consent to 18. The situation as it stands is unacceptable.


S.Ingrouille
goatboy78@hotmail.com

A letter to the Guernsey Press

This is the first draft of a letter that I intended sending to my local paper. I did not send it in the end. For an explanation of why click here:

There has been a glut of coverage in the Press recently regarding the issue of the homosexual age of consent. It appears that many correspondents are at best missing the point and at worst, being plain offensive. For me, however, this debate has highlighted three important points:

1. Religion. Once again an important issue has been clouded by an intolerant and bigoted minority. A number of your correspondents have resorted to quoting passages from the bible, namely the section of the book of Leviticus, which deals with “unnatural” acts. However, these people appear to be cherry picking only those passages that fit in with their personal view of how things should be, and it is interesting to note how few of them mention other parts of Leviticus in their correspondence. Perhaps it is because that, like much of what is in the bible, when you actually come out and say it, it sounds ridiculous. For instance, Leviticus also suggests that a woman should be confined to her home for the duration of her period each month. Do your correspondents seriously suggest that this is a reasonable course of action? If not, they should stop quoting Leviticus.
Everyone, of course, has the unassailable right to express their views, but it is beyond me why your Christian correspondents should think that their religious views have any relevance to this debate. It is my understanding that the Church and the State were separated a long time ago and that is exactly as it should be.

2. Criminalisation. By criminalising an activity you are encouraging furtiveness and secrecy for fear of reprisal. Far from protecting young teenagers, it puts them more at risk of exploitation because they will not have the support of unknowing family and friends. Let’s face it, in the unforgiving society we live in, it must be hard enough for a young gay teenager to be faced with the unfair stigma attached to their sexual preferences without being branded a criminal for engaging in what comes naturally, especially when their heterosexual peers are perfectly within the law to do the same. This brings me to my most important point.

3. Equality. We supposedly live in a democratic society where each individual regardless of race, sex or political leanings have the same rights and privileges as everyone else. By that same token, all laws should apply equally to each individual. The discrepancy between the ages of consent of homosexuals and heterosexuals is in direct violation of this simple premise; the States are virtually saying that one section of the community is not equal to another.

I do not really care whether the age of consent for homosexuals is lowered or not, but one thing I am sure of is that it should be the same as the age of consent for heterosexuals. The choice, therefore, is simple. Either lower the homosexual age of consent to 16, or raise the age of consent of heterosexuals to 18. The situation as it stands is unacceptable.