Homosexual conduct and the age of consent

From Professor James O'Connell Sir, I regretted Lynette Burrows's strong words about the age of homosexual consent (Charterhouse, Nov 6), not to mention her strictures on the government and House of Commons.
To begin with, her emphasis on the correlation between homosexuality and Aids is not now correct. I don't mean that people cannot contract the illness through homosexual activity.
But it is the case that currently throughout the world, and in Britain as well, Aids is spread more through heterosexual than through homosexual intercourse.
In present circumstances the age of consent makes little impact on homosexual conduct.
What keeping the age of homosexual consent lower than that of heterosexual consent does is to criminalise people who would would not otherwise fall foul of the law. We owe it to our neighbours not to criminalise them unnecessarily.
We also owe it to a sexual minority not to stigmatise them. But bad legislation and homophobic prejudice do just that.
Not long ago in many countries all homosexual intercourse was a criminal offence. In Britain it was a hanging offence until 1851. Also in the United States, for example, it was classed as a disease: one commentator remarked that once that classification was removed "twenty million homosexuals gained immediate cure".
We have now moved on. The latest GuardianlICM poll makes clear how public attitudes in Britain have changed.
Without discussing the morality of homosexual behaviour which would require something beyond this letter let me end in saying that the crassest way to conceptualise active homosexuals is to think they are heterosexuals who are behaving badly. People are as God made them, and we should be careful to respect the work of his hands.
Yours faithfully, JAMES O'CONNELL, Ilkley, W. Yorks.