The Oxford peer, who led a House of Lords vote against lowering the age of consent for homosexuals, is urging the Government to consider raising the age when girls can legally have sex.
Baroness Young, who lives in north Oxford, was speaking after an overwhelming rejection by peers of the amendment to the Government's Crime and Disorder bill.
Lady Young told the Oxford Mail that one solution to the issue would be to raise the age of consent for girls to the age of 18. This would mean heterosexual and homosexual relationships would be treated equally in the eyes of the law. She said: "In an ideal world that's what I'd look at.
"I think 16 is very young for two boys to have homosexual relations. It's very young for a girl and a boy to have a sexual relationship.
"I think it could be the answer - it could be an answer for the European court. Many people are very worried about situations of older men preying on younger girls." David Allison, of the gay pressure group Outrage, dismissed her suggestion, saying: "She's not taking into account human nature. Young people will have sex. They don't ask to see each other's birth certificates.
"They (peers) are just living in a world that has long since gone."
Lady Young said that if the Government was insistent in lowering the age of consent for homosexuality the proposal should be put into a separate bill. That would allow the matter to be discussed fully, she said.
Peers voted by a majority of 168 to keep the age of consent for homosexuals at 18.
Lady Young won the support of churchmen and rabbis in the vote. Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher sat beside her during the debate. Should the age of consent be raised to 18 for girls? If you think it should be raised
Enter selection 6021 If you think it should not be raised
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The results will be published in Monday's Oxford Mail NOW YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SAY!
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