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From : Giles Mayfair, Ronald Bun, Robert McKenzie. R. H. S. Crossman, MP, Michael Ivens, J. W. Roche, D. 0. Davies. John Robson. John Tripp, Harmon Tupper. Michael Quartley.
Homosexuals and the Law SIR,--If those who oppose the Bill on homosexuality on the grounds that it will tend to increase the danger of boys being corrupted showed a similar concern for girls, one would have more faith in what Mr. Chataway believes to be the sincerity of their objection. Equally, the proposals in the Bill for the heavier penalisation of homosexual behaviour engaged in with (or by) males under the age of twenty- one might strike one as something better than a matter of practical politics, if they were matched by any suggestion for equivalent legislation in the case of females. As it is, the law permits the homosexual corruption of any girl above the heterosexual age of consent (sixteen). If this discrimination has a rational basis in a supposed age of sex equality, I have yet to hear it explained.
Mr. Chataway is also on shaky ground in assum- ing that society should have more concern with the possibility of issue from an incestuous union than an ordinary extra-marital union. If this, indeed, represents a special danger it is one that has long been unrecognised in either France or Belgium, where incest between consenting adults is not a crime.
2 Ramillies Road, London, W4
GILES PLAYFAIR
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