Austrian Court Strikes Down Gay Sex Law
365Gay.com,
July 3, 2002
SUMMARY: Austria's Constitutional Court has ruled unconstitutional a law
allowing prison sentences for men having gay sex with men younger than 18.
Austria's Constitutional Court has ruled unconstitutional a law allowing
prison sentences for men having gay sex with men younger than 18.
The court said that making sex between two men over the age of 14 illegal
was discriminatory. The age of consent for heterosexual and lesbian sex is 14
in Austria. For gays it is 18.
The current law permits judges to sentence violators up to five years in
prison.
Austria has the strictest rules governing gay sex in the European Union.
The Constitutional Court gave legislators until Feb. 28, 2003, to revise
the law.
Following the court ruling, two prominent members of the Greens party said
they would immediately seek the abolition of the gay consent law.
However, the two governing parties, the conservative Austrian People's
Party and the far-right Freedom Party, say they will resist any effort to
abolish the law.
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