XN000022-1990-07-11 — Page 6

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1990

"BUT VULNERABILITY TO BLACKMAIL MAY ARISE FROM A WEAKNESS FOR WINE, WOMEN AND GAMBLING JUST AS EASILY AS FROM HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOUR.

"DECRIMINALISATION

+

REDUCES

RATHER THAN INCREASES

THE

LIKELIHOOD OF EXTORTION, HE SAID.

SIR DAVID SAID SEVERE SOCIAL DISAPPROVAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY MEANT THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF BLACKMAIL COULD NEVER BE COMPLETELY ELIMINATED.

BUT THE PRESENT

CIRCUMSTANCES PROVIDED THE VICTIM WITH

NO

DEFENCE WHATEVER.

DREADFUL CRIME,

"IN ORDER TO SECURE PROTECTION FROM ONE BLACKMAIL, HE MUST FIRST HIMSELF CONFESS TO ANOTHER, HOMOSEXUALITY. YET, WHILE THE ONE HAS A REAL VICTIM, THE OTHER CONSENT," HE SAID.

INVOLVES MUTUAL

THE CHIEF SECRETARY SAID THE SECOND ARGUMENT THAT DECRIMINALISING ADULT MALE HOMOSEXUALITY WOULD THREATHEN FAMILY LIFE WAS EQUALLY GROUNDLESS.

"WHERE HOMOSEXUAL ACTS ARE CRIMINAL, THE LIKELIHOOD OF A HOMOSEXUAL MALE FEELING OBLIGED TO SEEK THE RESPECTABILITY OF A. HETEROSEXUAL MARRIAGE IS GREATER, AS IS THE RISK OF SUCH AN UNHAPPY UNION EVENTUALLY FALLING APART.

"SUCH MARRIAGES ARE MUCH MORE COMMON THAN MOST OF US WOULD IMAGINE AND WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO LESSEN THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR TAKING PLACE.

"CLEARLY DECRIMINALISATION WOULD HELP, SIR DAVID SAID.

AS TO MINORS, SIR DAVID SAID IT WAS THE INTENTION TO PROTECT THE YOUNG.

GOVERNMENT'S

FIRM

"INDEED, WE WOULD LIKE TO STRENGTHEN THAT PROTECTION," НЕ

STRESSED.

SIR DAVID SAID IT WAS OFTEN ARGUED THAT DECRIMINALISING HOMOSEXUAL ACTS WOULD ENCOURAGE LICENCE AND EXPERIMENTATION; THAT FREED OF THE FEAR OF PROSECUTION FOR SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH A CONSENTING ADULT MALE PARTNER, THE PROMISCUOUS HOMOSEXUAL WOULD SEEK EXCITEMENT IN THE SEDUCTION OF YOUNG BOYS.

"THIS IS NONSENSE," HE SAID.

"ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTS STRONGLY TOWARDS A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN MEN WHO SEEK OTHER ADULT MALES AS PARTNERS AND THOSE WHO ARE ATTRACTED BY YOUNG BOYS.

"THE EVIDENCE ALSO INDICATES THAT THOSE WITH ADULT PARTNERS SELDOM SEEK RELATIONS WITH YOUNG BOYS, AND, VICE VERSA, THE PAEDOPHILIAC SELDOM SEEKS INTIMACY WITH AN ADULT MALE, HE ADDED.

זן

/SIR DAVID