The States, Guernsey's parliament, is to decide whether to equalise the age of consent later this month. At present the age of consent for gay sex is 18 for gays and 16 for straights.

The island's Home Department, which forced the debate, advised that objections on religious or moral grounds would carry no legal weights. The change in the law would also see the prohibition against sex between more than two men at one time disappear from the statute books.