It will be interesting to see how vigorously the British government lives up to its promise to invoke the act which will override the House of Lord's rejection of the change referenced below. The Commons have had their say, and I'm on THEIR side, of course, because they are on OUR side. I had thought the law was already in effect, but I was wrong. It defies understanding, though, how there can be any rational argument against making the age of consent for homosexual boys 16 when it is already that for lesbians and heterosexuals. The only answer is that it is not rational and that the majority voters in the House of Lords are governing with their emotions and sois-disant moral sensibilities instead of with reason and fairness. But then, they are born to the peerage in most instances, whereas the House of Commons springs, at least theoretically, from the rank and file, thus from a different reality. Again three cheers for the European Union and its monumental efforts to equalize society. It won't let up the pressure on the U.K.. Too bad the E.U.'s standards are not more respected in the U.S.A. By the way, I have received some hateful diatribes against the U.S.A. by some non-Americans on my e-mail list, inspired by my apologia about our American self-involvement with the current presidential election. I have spent a lot of my life outside the U.S.A. and have had your sort of remarks thrown at me in more countries than you can count. My chief consolation for such adverse opinions is that usually there are infinitely more of your countrymen trying like hell to get into my country than there are of my countrymen trying to get into yours -- and I don't mean tourists! Headline: British Age of Consent Still 18 (AP, 11/13/00) Text: LONDON (AP) - The government was defeated for a third time in the House of Lords on Monday in its bid to lower the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. Lawmakers in the more powerful House of Commons had overwhelmingly approved the plan earlier this year, but the Lords rejected the motion by 205 votes to 144. The bill, which would bring Britain in line with most other European Union nations, is aimed at curbing prejudice, according to its backers. The Lords' powers are limited to delaying legislation, by blocking it and bouncing it back to the House of Commons. The government has already indicated it will resort to the rarely used device of invoking the Parliament Act - created to ensure that the will of the country's elected lawmakers prevails - to force the bill through. There was no immediate comment from the government after Monday's defeat. Five years ago, Parliament narrowly rejected lowering the consent age for homosexuals to 16, reducing it instead from 21 to 18. Homosexual sex between adults ceased to be a crime in Britain three decades ago. THE END