By Stuart Roberts

Minister of National Drug Control Wayne Perinchief almost spoke out against homosexual sex during a debate on the Criminal Code in the House of Assembly on Friday.

Mr. Perinchief said the basis of any legal system reflected the values which any society wanted to achieve or deter. ?Sex offences are among the most abhorrent of offences that can be committed against an individual,? Mr. Perinchief said.

However, he went on to say that buggery was still on the books as an offence consisting of ?carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature?.

In 1994 this was altered to say it was not an offence as long as it was performed in the privacy of the home between two consenting adults. ?Society determines what acts are tolerable or not by the Acts they pass,? he said. ?We did have an attempt here to extend a law to include acts that heretofore are not acceptable in law.

?This includes sex acts among same sex people that some folks would like to have us accept,? he said. ?Now, I already said the law allows it in the privacy of your own home ? buggery ? but if the act is committed in public, it is not acceptable.

?I say that this House has shown a resistance to any liberalisation of certain behaviours that would cause this society to be at risk, (and) cause young children to be at risk.?

He believed the sanctioning something ?unacceptable and abhorrent to the Bermudian way of life? was not acceptable.

?The offence of buggery will be triable summarily with an appropriate sentence of five years,? he said.

Mr. Perinchief, who rose to the second highest rank within the Police Service, also discussed how he saw criminals move up the scale of seriousness from voyeurs and prowlers then rapists. To illustrate his point he told the House of an incident when a woman threw boiling water out her bathroom window on a ?prowler? who turned out to be her husband.

?That?s true Mr. Speaker, or at least it is alleged to be so,? he said.