The law is an ass. Or rather, since that view is already axiomatic in some quarters: the law in relation to intimate consent is an ass – an unholy heteronormative, patriarchally-inspired man-protecting mess. So asinine, in fact, that the time may finally have arrived to tear up what we have already and start again. Bizarrely, it has taken the implausible coincidence of quite separate cases involving transgender individuals and undercover police to edge this debate into the open.
Let’s start with the trans side – though don’t, for a moment, imagine this is just about “teh tranz”. An Appeal Court ruling has this week been published in respect of Justine McNally, sentenced to three years in prison in December 2012 for the crime of deceiving their girlfriend as to their gender. Justine, who was 17 at the time the alleged offences took place, entered into the relationship as a boy, called Scott: their partner agreed to sexual intimacy but later told police that consent was based on a deception.
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