The Age(s) of Consent: Gay Activism and the Sexualy of Mors France and Quebec (1970-1980) | Cairn Internatnal Edn

Contents:

• STRAIGHT VS. GAY AGE OF CONSENT: THE DIFFERENCE
• DEMOCRAT LEGISLATOR WANTS TO CRIMALIZE GAY SEX BETWEEN YOUNG ADULTS AND MORS SOME S
• THE 1970S: GAY ACTIVISM AND THE SEXUALY OF MORS8IN THE EARLY 1970S, THE LEGAL SEXUAL MAJORY FRANCE AND CANADA HAD A PARABLE STCTURE. THE LAW SET A GENERAL AGE OF NSENT (15 FRANCE, 14 CANADA) AND PROVID FOR A SPECIAL REGIME THE SE OF HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS (21 BOTH S). SEEN AS A THREAT TO YOUTH AND MORALY, HOMOSEXUALS WERE STIGMATIZED BOTH UNTRI. IN 1960, THE FRENCH NATNAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTED THE MIRGUET AMENDMENT, WHICH CLASSIFIED HOMOSEXUALY AS A “SOCIAL SURGE” AND PLACED A LIST OF “SURG”, CLUDG ALHOLISM, TUBERCULOSIS AND PROSTUTN. SEVERAL MONTHS LATER, THIS AMENDMENT WAS FOLLOWED BY A DOUBLG OF THE SENTENC CURRED FOR PUBLIC CENCY “WHEN NSISTS OF AN ACT AGAST NATURE WH AN DIVIDUAL OF THE SAME SEX”. A 1954 REFORM OF THE CANADIAN CRIMAL CO EXPAND THE TEGORY OF THOSE SUFFERG OM “SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY” TO CLU DIVIDUALS SENTENCED FOR “GROSS CENCY”, THEREBY RENRG THEM LIABLE TO AN TERMATE PERD OF TENTN KEEPG WH A 1949 LAW. [14] IN THE EARLY 1970S, THE FIRST GAY POLIL MOBILIZATNS ATTACKED THE LEGAL NORMS, THE SOCIAL REPRENTATNS THAT LEGIMATED THEM AND THE REPRSIVE PRACTIC WHICH THEY RULTED.EXPERIMENTATN GROUPS

STRAIGHT VS. GAY AGE OF CONSENT: THE DIFFERENCE

The laws on homosexualy and heterosexualyPARLIAMENT UK, 2012; NCBI, 2012The legal age of sexual nsent for heterosexuals the UK is 16. The Sexual Offenc Act 1967 ma chang so that homosexual men over the age of 21 uld have sexual relatnships, 1994 a further change saw rced to those aged over Sexual Offenc (Amendment) Act 2000 ma the ag of legal nsent for heterosexuals and homosexuals equal and the legal age of nsent for homosexual people was changed to 16. The Sexual Offenc Act 1967 partially crimalised “homosexual acts” – “buggery” and “gross cency” – England and Wal between two nsentg mal private of or over 21 years of age.

DEMOCRAT LEGISLATOR WANTS TO CRIMALIZE GAY SEX BETWEEN YOUNG ADULTS AND MORS SOME S

The mimum age of 21 for gay sex was proposed by the “Wolfenn Report”, published 1957 which looked to “homosexual offenc and prostutn” and reflected the then age of majory. In 1975, a man who was imprisoned beme the first person to pla to the (now abolished) European Commissn of Human Rights about the higher age of nsent for gay sex England and Wal. The Commissn cid that fixg the mimum age of nsent for gay sex at 21 was jtified to protect the rights of others – namely younger men unr 21 – and did not vlate the European Conventn on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Crimal Jtice (Stland) Act 1980 partially crimalised gay sex Stland, siar terms to England and Wal (although Stland “sodomy” rather than “buggery” was an offence) wh a mimum age of 21. Siarly, the Homosexual Offenc (Northern Ireland) Orr 1982 partially crimalised male same-sex acts Northern Ireland wh a mimum age of 21.

The law reform Northern Ireland was impelled by the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights 1981, rpect of a se brought by Jefey Dudgeon, which termed that the plete crimalisatn of gay sex vlated the ECHR but that matag a higher age of nsent did not. In the Court’s view, there was a “legimate necsy” for “some gree of ntrol over homosexual nduct notably orr to provi safeguards agast the exploatn and rptn of those who are specially vulnerable by reason, for example, of their youth”. In 1982, Richard Dmond beme the first man younger than the mimum age of nsent for gay sex England and Wal to challenge the higher age of nsent g the ECHR.

THE 1970S: GAY ACTIVISM AND THE SEXUALY OF MORS8IN THE EARLY 1970S, THE LEGAL SEXUAL MAJORY FRANCE AND CANADA HAD A PARABLE STCTURE. THE LAW SET A GENERAL AGE OF NSENT (15 FRANCE, 14 CANADA) AND PROVID FOR A SPECIAL REGIME THE SE OF HOMOSEXUAL RELATNS (21 BOTH S). SEEN AS A THREAT TO YOUTH AND MORALY, HOMOSEXUALS WERE STIGMATIZED BOTH UNTRI. IN 1960, THE FRENCH NATNAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTED THE MIRGUET AMENDMENT, WHICH CLASSIFIED HOMOSEXUALY AS A “SOCIAL SURGE” AND PLACED A LIST OF “SURG”, CLUDG ALHOLISM, TUBERCULOSIS AND PROSTUTN. SEVERAL MONTHS LATER, THIS AMENDMENT WAS FOLLOWED BY A DOUBLG OF THE SENTENC CURRED FOR PUBLIC CENCY “WHEN NSISTS OF AN ACT AGAST NATURE WH AN DIVIDUAL OF THE SAME SEX”. A 1954 REFORM OF THE CANADIAN CRIMAL CO EXPAND THE TEGORY OF THOSE SUFFERG OM “SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY” TO CLU DIVIDUALS SENTENCED FOR “GROSS CENCY”, THEREBY RENRG THEM LIABLE TO AN TERMATE PERD OF TENTN KEEPG WH A 1949 LAW. [14] IN THE EARLY 1970S, THE FIRST GAY POLIL MOBILIZATNS ATTACKED THE LEGAL NORMS, THE SOCIAL REPRENTATNS THAT LEGIMATED THEM AND THE REPRSIVE PRACTIC WHICH THEY RULTED.EXPERIMENTATN GROUPS

In 1993, three men – Hugo Greenhalgh (edor of Openly), William Parry and Ralph Wil – plaed to the Commissn that the UK had “the hight homosexual age of nsent Europe”. This plat, one aspect of a much wir polil mpaign by Stonewall, played an important role motivatg a bate the UK Parliament that rulted the Crimal Jtice and Public Orr Act 1994 rcg the mimum age of nsent for gay sex to 18 across the UK.

As a nsequence of the 2000 Act, the mimum age for gay sex was rced to 16 England and Wal, and Stland, and to 17 Northern Ireland (the then mimum age for heterosexual acts, other than buggery which remaed crimalised). To mark LGBT + History Month, this blog post draws on a recently released Prime Mister’s Office file which documents a signifint advance gay rights soon after the turn of the lennium. The Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 reprented a partial crimalisatn of male homosexualy: allowed two men to have sex private England and Wal provid they were over 21; much later, this provisn was extend to Stland and Northern Ireland.