Gay Group Sex Ban Faces Repeal in Scotland
Datalounge,
May 1, 2001
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Plans in the Scottish
Parliament to repeal a gay-specific ban on group sex ran into opposition,
after a Tory MSP announced he will fight the move, the BBC reports.
Conservative Phil Gallie told fellow lawakers he intends to press for a
Scottish Parliament vote on outlawing all group sex — both gay and straight
— when the legislation comes before Scottish lawmakers for the final vote.
The move to repeal the law is credited to a ruling made by European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which specifies equal treatment under the
law for gay men and lesbians in member countries. Formal adoption of the
Convention is now at its committee stage in the Scottish Parliament.
The proposed bill makes several changes to Scottish law which lawmakers say
are necessary for compliance with the ECHR, including a measure that allows
adult gay men to engage in group sex in private without being liable to
prosecution.
"What people get up to behind their own doors is up to them," the
BBC quotes Gallie, the Conservative MSP for South of Scotland region. "I
don’t want to put cameras behind every bedroom door. But I want to make sure
that the Government doesn’t condone it.
"If people do it, that’s their affair, but the Government should not
need to legislate. I don’t think the Government should be legislating in
this way," Gallie insisted.
The Labour Party-dominated government frames the issue in very different
terms. An Executive spokesman told the BBC, "The Executive felt it was
right there should not be discrimination of any kind, and decided remove the
law on group sex among people of the same sex.
"It’s a matter of fairness and equity."
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