{"id":96,"date":"2016-11-15T20:58:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T20:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/?p=96"},"modified":"2016-11-15T21:42:29","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T21:42:29","slug":"liberals-to-repeal-anal-sex-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/2016\/11\/15\/liberals-to-repeal-anal-sex-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals to repeal anal sex law"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

The Liberal government introduced legislation Tuesday to repeal a section of the Criminal Code that prohibits consensual anal sex by minors.<\/p>\n

\"Addressing
Addressing reporters, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says that Section 159 is “discriminatory” and that the Criminal Code needs to be updated to be more inclusive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There have been several attempts to repeal Section 159, and four appeal courts have deemed the law unconstitutional, but it has remained on the books.<\/p>\n

The section prohibits people younger than 18 from engaging in anal sex, despite being over the age of consent for other sexual acts.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said society has evolved and the law has to keep up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis piece of legislation is about ensuring we eliminate discrimination and ensure equality,\u201d Wilson-Raybould said after she tabled the legislation.<\/p>\n

\"history-of-anal-intercourse\"She also noted that \u201cCanada was among the first countries in the world to recognize same-sex marriage and our human rights act has long recognized the right to be protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault as his special adviser on LGBTQ2 rights. LGBTQ2 refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning and two-spirited people.<\/p>\n

Boissonnault said that \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of work to be done,\u201d but the Liberals are ready to listen to Canadians to build an inclusive future.<\/p>\n

Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada Human Rights Trust, welcomed the repeal of Section 159.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt equalizes us as a community\u201d she said. \u201cIt recognizes our relationships in the same way it recognizes straight relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egale released a scathing report earlier this year on Section 159, which has been used to charge 22 people with anal intercourse between 2008 and 2014.<\/p>\n

\"Alberta
Alberta MP Randy Boissonnault (Edmonton Centre) says that he is a member of the LGBTQ2 community, being the first elected openly gay MP from Alberta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 20 members of the LGBTQ2 community met with Boissonnault Tuesday morning before the minister\u2019s announcement to share their concerns with the new adviser.<\/p>\n

Jean-Sebastien Boudreault of Montreal Pride drove from Montreal to be at the meeting. He said he was pleased, saying that the MP was \u201creally open\u201d to their ideas for the future of the LGBTQ2 community.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wilson-Raybould said that this legislation does not cover pardons for previous convictions under the act.<\/p>\n

However Boissonnault said that pardons would be given due consideration, and the government would take time to do a \u201cdeep listen\u201d to Canadians on the matter and choose appropriate action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Liberal government introduced legislation Tuesday to repeal a section of the Criminal Code that prohibits consensual anal sex by minors. There have been several attempts to repeal Section 159, and four appeal courts have deemed the law unconstitutional, but it has remained on the books. The section prohibits people younger than 18 from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[48,49,50,51],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-edition","tag-lgbtq2","tag-politics","tag-section-159","tag-sex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/drift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}