Egale has developed five guidelines it uses to evaluate the regulation of sexual activity.
l General. Laws and policies that regulate sexual behaviour have long been used against gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-identified people. Thus any prohibition must be justified on specific and compelling grounds.
l Equality. When laws or policies that regulate sexual behaviour are justified, they must be written and applied equally to all, in a manner that does not discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-identified people or institutions.
l Community Standards. Sexual activities should not be prohibited merely because they offend community standards or are considered immoral by others.
l Harm Principle. Where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, sexual activities between consenting adults that do not harm others should not be prohibited.
l Sexual Abuse. Egale recognizes and affirms the need to protect against the harm caused by sexual abuse, and in particular sexual abuse of children and adolescents. In so doing, government should educate and empower adolescents to make healthy sexual choices.
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