Gibraltar's supreme court is to decide whether the British territory is violating constitutional law by making gay sex illegal for men under 18.

At the present males have to be 18 before they can legally have sex, while straights and lesbians can have sexual relations at 16.

Last year, a vote on equalising the age of consent was defeated by eight votes to four. However, doubts were raised at the time by some members of government whether the unequal age of consent was lawful.