SECOND INTERNATIONAL GAY YOUTH CONGRESS: "We oppose ages of consent and all laws which restrict consensual sexual activity because, as young people, they limit our sexual freedom and deny us the right to choose who we relate to sexually."

SECOND INTERNATIONAL GAY YOUTH CONGRESS

Roughly 50 young gay men and lesbians participated in the Second International Gay Youth Congress in Dublin from July 7 to 12 [1985]. The Congress was funded, in part, by the European Youth Foundation and was attended by delegates from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland (North and South), the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The following are 4 of the 13 resolutions adopted:

As young people, we must be free to choose our own identities and lifestyles. We oppose ages of consent and all laws which restrict consensual sexual activity because, as young people, they limit our sexual freedom and deny us the right to choose who we relate to sexually.

We call for the abolition of all ages of consent and demand that young people's and women's complaints of sexual assault be taken seriously and that positive discrimination be applied to counter existing power imbalances. Youth must be made less dependent on older people, materially and emotionally.

We would like to insist that the organizers of the Third International Gay Youth Congress spend as large a time as possible, and make positive discrimination in order to encourage more female delegates, non-white delegates, and younger delegates to attend this congress. Only when this is achieved will the congress be representative of all ...

We, the Second International Gay Youth Congress, urge the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association and Cara Friend to withdraw their dismissive attitudes towards gay youth and to campaign strongly for an equal age of consent with their heterosexual counterparts, while ages of consent still exist.

from The NAMBLA Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 9 (Nov., 1985), Pg. 2.