Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95 11:40:00 MET From: REEKIE Alan Fraser According to a press report attributed to the Agence France-Presse, the Cyprus Government has just submitted a Bill to decriminalise homosexual acts by consenting adults in private, to Parliament . When enacted, this Bill will abolish the last legislation absolutely prohibiting male homosexual acts in a member-State of the Council of Europe, in accordance with the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the "Modinos" case. It may be of interest in this context to note how a British Press report today describes the island: "Thirty-five years after Cyprus won independence, it can still pass as the foreign field that is forever English. Its pubs, shops stocked with British goods, telephone boxes, street signs and drivcing on the left continue to give it that 'home-from-home' feeling". So perhaps it is not surprising that its legislation on homosexuality should have retained the British prejudices from before independence for so long. - Alan Reekie (usual disclaimer)