----cut here---- "Working for the Lesbian & Gay Community" Stonewall 2 Graycoat Place Westminister London SW1P 15B Tel: (071) 222 9007 Fax: (071) 222 0525 Dear Friend, You will have read about the wonderful stance that the Irish government is now taking in decriminalising homosexuality with an equal age of consent. I spoke today to Senator David Norris, the gay man who took his case to the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court held in his case that the criminalisation of all male homosexual sex in Ireland was a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. David Norris was represented in that case by Mary Robinson, who is now President of Ireland. The Sexual Offences Bill which went through the Irish Parliament on 24th June this year establishes an equal age of consent for lesbians, gay men and heterosexuals. The Irish decision is of historic importance for us here. It leaves Britain completely out on a limb with the highest age of consent in Europe and one of only two EC countries out of the 12 to retain an unequal age of consent. That is why I am asking if you could make an extra effort this month and write to the new Home Secretary, welcoming the decision of the Irish government and asking that our legislation is now reformed so that gay men are treated equally and the age of consent lowered to sixteen. Please write to: Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, QC, MP, Home Secretary The Home Office 50 Queen Anne's Gate London SW1 England Yours sincerely, Angela Mason Executive Director ----cut here---- Ciaran. -- ---- Ciaran McHale (cjmchale@dsg.cs.tcd.ie) \bi/ Dist. Systems Group, Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, \/ Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone: +353-1-7021539 FAX: +353-1-6772204