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by a small amendment to section 147 of the Crimes Ordinance,
which makes it an offence for any person to solicit for any
immoral purpose in a public place or in view of the public.
It should be made clear that, for the purpose of this section,
homosexual acts are immoral. This would ensure that there
were adequate sanctions against overtly homosexual behaviour
in public.
45.
OPTION 2: To reduce the penalties for homosexual acts
between consenting adults in private
Under this option to change the criminal penalties for
homosexual acts between consenting men of or over 21 in
private would be reduced rather than abolished.
for such acts in all other circumstances would remain
unchanged.
The penalties
46.
Statistics on sentences for gross indecency show that
even when the act has taken place in a public toilet or
bathhouse, the maximum penalty (imprisonment for two years) is
rarely imposed. Of the 19 men convicted in 1986 for acts of
homosexual gross indecency, 13 were fined between $500 and
$3,000. The most severe penalty, imposed on four men, was
three months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. There
was a similar pattern in 1987. Nine men were convicted
(another five are awaiting trial), of whom six were fined
$500-$600; again, the most severe penalty was three months'
imprisonment, suspended for two years. In the two cases of
homosexual buggery which were prosecuted in 1986, a 37-year
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