SOCIETY’S VIEWS

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31832, 9 November 1968, Page 46

SOCIETY’S VIEWS

Intention To “Press On”

“My feeling is very strongly that this is a situation in which Parliamentary opinion is lagging very much behind widespread public opinion,” said the president of the Homosexual Law Reform Society (Professor J. 11. Robb) in commenting on the Petitions Committee’s announcement.

The society, Professor Robb said, would press on with efforts to maintain and build up support for the proposed reform. “All the evidence that has come our way during the last few months suggests that the amount of public support for the proposal is far greater than we anticipated when the work on the petition began,” he said. Church’s Statement

The Presbyterian Church did not condone immorality, the convener of the public relations committee of the church (Mr R. T. Feist) said in a statement this evening, commenting on the Petitions Committee’s announcement. Mr Feist said the support given by the church to the petition was based on the belief that constructive help to homosexuals would be facilitated by removing the threat of criminal prosecution within the limited sphere recommended by the petition. “The church and society must increase efforts to cope with the problem, which, because of the revulsiofi felt on the subject, has tended to be ignored,” he said. Psychologist’s View

Disappointment with the decision of the Petitions Committee was expressed last evening by the senior psychologist of social services at the Christchurch Hospital (Mr K. R. Daniels). “It is very significant that those desiring a change in the law are all people who have been very much involved in the human suffering caused by the law at present,” he said. “Mr Grieve is said to be amazed that those desiring a change of the law include churches and church leaders. It should be noted that the Wolfenden Committee in Britain, which advocated change, was supported by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Church Assembly, the Methodist Conference, and the committee set up by the Roman Catholic Church,” Mr Daniels said.