By Anthony Hegarty

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon recently came out in favor of gay marriage. As I have written in this paper before, I do not care if gays marry and the subject probably affects less than 0.5 percent of this still very conservative population.

In the U.K., rights for homosexuals took a giant leap forward in 1967 when sex between males at least 21 years of age was legalized. However, not content with that, activists continued to campaign to have age of consent laws reduced to 16 ― the same as heterosexuals. Others wanted age of consent laws removed altogether. Then there were adults who desired legal sexual access to children, and having witnessed the success of the homosexual campaign, they embedded themselves with hopes of achieving their goals.

Certain homosexual groups provided them support, such as the Gay Collective. The Gay Collective accused "moral conservatives" of failing to curtail homosexual rights and were thus turning their attention to children. They further claimed that it was often the children who initiated sexual behavior and not the pedophile who merely wanted a loving relationship.

I make no suggestion that homosexuals are drawn towards children. They are certainly not. But what has become evident in the intervening years is that as homosexual rights have increased, they have continued to be mirrored by rights for pedophiles.

While age of consent laws remain, a concept known as "the evolving capacities of the child" has emerged that allows for underage children to make adult decisions if they are deemed wise enough. This means a 10-year-old child would technically be capable of making a decision that another 15-year-old might not. Children are permitted abortions and birth control pills without parental consent and are given confidentiality.

A major argument for homosexuals in the 1970s was that the public should be better informed about homosexuals and this has resulted, albeit slowly, in homosexuality being included in sex education policies. An argument for the paedophile movement of the 1970s was that even for young children, the sexual experiences they shared with adults were pleasurable. Today, sex and relationship education policies have shifted from an emphasis on sexual health to sexual pleasure, and thus even educational guidelines published by UNESCO point out that sexual education should include that "genitals feel good when touched," and is called masturbation. This particular piece is aimed at 5-year-olds.

The DSM, which is the encyclopaedia of mental health, adjusted their view of homosexuality in their 1973 publication stating that it would only be a "sociopathic personality disorder" if individuals were distressed by being homosexual. Otherwise, it was simply a sexual orientation. In their 2013 publication, they determined that "pedophilia" would only be a disorder if the individuals were distressed by the condition. Otherwise, it too would be a sexual orientation.

Hate crime legislation protects individuals from abuse due to their sexual or religious orientations. However in Australia's New South Wales, the courts have ruled that attacks on pedophiles are a hate crime because the attack was based upon the victim's sexual orientation, thus legitimising pedophilia.

In the U.K., homosexuals are now entitled to foster and adopt children. Families with Christian values who refuse to discuss homosexuality are denied adoption rights, demonstrating that the pendulum may have swung too far. Certain British laws now allow for child sex offenders to take care of children, and certainly allow them to teach.

These parallel rights between homosexuals and pedophiles continue to grow and as people become more aware of them they are likely to result in a negative attitude towards homosexuals, a section of society which has the same feelings towards child sexual abuse as most decent people.

As Seoul's mayor embarks on this journey he should keep in mind that the rights of pedophiles mentioned here have evolved over many decades, often secreted within homosexual rights campaigns. The social changes Park Won-soon puts in place now will almost certainly be adjusted by future generations.

The writer is a criminologist with a master's degree in criminology and criminal psychology. He resides in Daegu and his email address is helios@discreet-service.com.

The views and opinions expressed in the above article are entirely those of Anthony Hegarty and do not in any way reflect the thoughts and perspectives of staff at The Korea Times. – ED.