MIRROR for 4-22, Lord Moynihan, 58-year-old former chairman of the Liberal Party Executive, "was accused in court yesterday of importuning men for an immoral purpose. Twice-married Lord Moynihan

was charged with persistently importuning last Tuesday. He was arrested in Picadilly Circus at 4:00 P.M. that day." The peer was remanded on bail until May 5th. ONE has not yet received information on the events of May 5. HOMOSEXUAL LAW REFORM STILL HOT ISSUE IN

HOUSE OF LORDS

In spite (or could it be because?) of the inclinations of some of its members, and in spite of the defeat last May in the House of Commons of proposed legislation on the same subject, the House of Lords continues with its discussions of homosexual law reform, according to official transcripts of House of Lords proceedings regularly received by ONE from London's Homosexual Law Reform Society. Debates in Committee took place on 6-21, 6-22, and 6-28-65, with a report thereon being made to the House on 7-16-65.

Present debates are centered, understandably, on the reasons for the House of Commons rejection of the previous proposals for law reform in this area. These reasons lay primarily in the opinion of a small majority in the lower house that the legalizing of all homosexual acts in private between consenting (civilian) adults over 21 was too broadly permissive, and that homosexuality is an "unnatural vice" which differs from "natural sin." As the report from the House of Commons put it, "natural sin (i.e., heterosexual misconduct) is, of course, deplorable, but unnatural vice is worse; because, as the law says, it strikes at the integrity of the human race." Subsequent

debates in the House of Lords have thus been in the direction of making the proposed reforms more specific and clearly defined, for example, removing legal penalties from certain kinds of presentlyillegal sex acts but not from others. The proposed age of consent (21) also came under considerable additional discussion, as well as homosexual acts involving mental "defectives" and male prostitutes.

According to the July report, the initial homosexual law reform bill, rejected in May, was then extensively amended and given more detail in relation to the issues noted above. However, since no additional information has since been received, it remains to be seen whether the amended proposals will go as they stand to Commons, or whether they will be further modified by Committee debate.

Both before and after the May vote of the House of Commons, the views of many members of the House of Lords on homosexual law reform were aired in the public press. The London DAILY MAIL for 3-18, for example, quoted Lord Devlin as saying:"Homosexuality is usually a miserable way of life, and it is the duty of society, if it can, to save any youth from being led into it. But if there is no danger of corruption (of boys) I do not think that there is any good the law can do that outweighs the misery that exposure and imprisonment cause to addicts who cannot find satisfaction in any other way of life. Punishment will not cure, and since it is haphazard in its incidence, I doubt if it deters . . ."

A substantial touch of drama arose during the May debates when the 12th Marquess of Queensberry rose for his maiden speech in the House of Lords, and pleaded for adoption of the Wolfenden recommendations for removing all