OTTAWA — The Liberal government will introduce legislation Tuesday to repeal a Criminal Code provision on anal intercourse that critics say is unconstitutional and discriminates against gay and bisexual men.
The law currently says anyone who engages in anal intercourse is guilty of an indictable offence — facing up to 10 years in prison — or an offence punishable on summary conviction.
There is an exception for heterosexual married couples and consenting adults of either sex over the age of 18, so long as there are only two of them and the activity takes place without anyone else in the room.
The age of consent for heterosexual sex is 16 years of age, meaning that a common sexual act between a young gay couple is criminalized while a different sexual act engaged in by a straight couple of the same age is not.
Egale Canada Human Rights Trust issued a report in June calling on the federal government to repeal the section as part of a broader call to end — and apologize for — LGBTQ discrimination sanctioned by the state.
The report said that appellate court judges in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and B.C. — as well as federal courts — have all ruled that Section 159 of the Criminal Code is unconstitutional, but that police officers have continued to charge people with it.
