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Rh sufficient to conclude that the discrimination was fair. I can find none. I therefore agree that the impugned provisions of the Act limit section 9 of the Constitution.

Finally, the question is whether the violation can be justified under section 36 of the Constitution. Here, the applicant and respondents were in one mind in their submissions that there was no justification. I am inclined to agree. The impugned sections are specific in their effect: they do not purport to protect children between the ages of 16 and 18 against all sexual acts, but only against homosexual sexual acts. The inevitable inference is that there is something odd, deviant and even perverse about homosexual acts and/or homosexual people. For young people who are only just beginning to explore their sexuality and are perhaps considering “coming out” to their parents and their community, the negative effect of the discrimination in this case might be particularly harmful.

The differential age of consent perpetuates a damaging stereotype of sexual conduct between same-sex partners as somehow disgraceful or as of less value than sexual conduct between opposite-sex partners. The effect is demeaning and in conflict with our Constitution and its values. It is contrary to the right to equality protected in section 9 of the Constitution and inimical to the values of equality, human dignity and freedom which are basic to our constitutional democracy. In National Coalition, Sachs J held: “The effect is that all homosexual desire is tainted, and the whole gay and lesbian community is marked with deviance and perversity. When everything associated with homosexuality is treated as bent, queer, repugnant or comical, the equality Rh