My Opinion

Personally I see no problem with either of these things being introduced. If we are to be free of discrimination we need to have laws in place which don't discriminate.

Both of the above issues need to be looked at separately.. I'll start with the age of consent issue -

Arguments have been put forward saying that by lowering the age of consent, young males will become prey for older homosexual males. How is that the case?! I do not know. If you are going to argue that point, it should probably be argued that the age of consent for heterosexuals be raised to 21, so that young people are not falling prey to older heterosexual people. There can be no argument in young people becoming victims of older members of society. I don't think anyone would ever agree to the age of consent of heterosexuals being raised to 21, so there should be no problem in things being evened up for everyone and the age of consent for homosexuals to be lowered to 16..in line with people of other sexual preferences.

The second issue is that of being able to teach homosexual education in schools..

I've been reading the letters to the editor in the newspaper. They're all talking about how they wouldn't want their young children subjected to that type of education. My question is: why not?! They write as though it would be their 10 and 11 year old primary school children who would be learning it. It wouldn't be. If they pay attention to the government's proposal, it would allow the POSSIBLE introduction of homosexual education into the SECONDARY SCHOOLing curriculum. No mention of primary schools and young children there, is there?!

When I first heard about their proposal, I thought, "nah, no way". Having gone through health education at high school learning about sex ed, I thought kids would be too immature to be able to deal with such a grown-up issue. But re-thinking it, I think they should be given access to information such as this. Teaching homosexual education in schools isn't going to promote homosexuality, anymore than normal sex ed at school promotes heterosexuality.

Each person is free to make up their own mind in regard to personal preference. Promoting something does not mean that everyone in the world is going to go out and do it. Give kids some credit -- we do have minds of our own and we CAN think for ourselves!

I live in a country where there is s'posed to be freedom - freedom to think, freedom to feel, freedom to choose. We're entitled to make our own choices, but we also need to be educated as to what these choices mean for us and the society in which we live. Homosexual people are no different to heterosexual people, except that they would rather be with a person of the same sex as themselves than with a person of the opposite sex. Does this make them less equal?! No way! We're all equal, noone is more superior than another, hence laws should be the same for all -- the age of consent should be the same, no matter what a person's sexual preference, and we should all be entitled to an education regarding the choices that we make.

It is argued that by introducing these new laws it is promoting and encouraging homosexuality and people ask the question, are we heading towards a society in which it is compulsory to be homosexual. The answer to this is no, we are not. But by having differences in laws/rights, not showing or allowing education on all aspects of life, the question could then be asked - are we making it compulsory to be heterosexual?!

Written: 7/12/01

NOTE// I am not gay. This is just what I think as I am very much for equality for all.

Visit My Message Board