Letter: The age of homosexual consent: equality or boundary?

Sir: If any MP is uncertain how to vote in the forthcoming debate on the issue of the age of consent for homosexuals then they should study the article by John Habgood, Archbishop of York (18 February).

On the general subject of normalities, this article should be compulsory reading for all those who have doubts about the way society is moving, or rather drifting. Boundaries have to be drawn for young people to see and for older people to follow. They may be breached but at least they are there and people should know the consequences when they cross them. The argument which says that young people know their own minds at 16 is an exaggerated one.

Dr Habgood is to be congratulated on his article. This is the sort of considered statement that the Church of England should be making on controversial subjects where society at large is looking for a moral lead.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN DEMONT

Teddington,

Middlesex

18 February