Gareth Williams’ Childhood Sweetheart Says Dead M16 Spy Was Not Gay But Was Researching New Identity, Britain To Expunge Criminal Convictions For Gay Sex Offenses, First Irish Same Sex Civil Partnership Ceremony Scheduled For April 2011

The story of Gareth Williams, the M16 British spy found dead, his naked body somehow packed inside a padlocked sports bag in August, continues to be told as an odd tale, a friend of Williams telling the Mail on Sunday that the 31 year old Williams was not gay, and was fact studying for new identity, despite police last week suggesting he died after a sex game went horribly wrong, and that he visited a number of gay bars in Vauxhall, and purchased tickets for a local drag show shortly prior to his death. Sian Llyod-Jones, who identifies herself as William’s childhood sweetheart, says Williams was in training to take on a new identity eight months before he was discovered dead, and that he often purchased designer women’s clothing, but that those were gifts for herself and Williams’ sister. The 33 year old Lloyd-Jones says Williams was not gay, adding “I’m not in denial and nor is his mum, dad or sister. It would have been fine if he was(gay).

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democratic equalities minister, will announce a proposal to pass legislation that will effectively expunge historic criminal convictions for homosexual sex with a partner over the age of 16, reports the Sunday Telegraph. The policy was first announced by Prime Minister David Cameron during the general elections. The legislation will be included in the Freedom Bill. Consensual sex between two men over the age of 21 was decriminalised in 1967. In 1994, the homosexual age of consent was lowered to 18, and only in 2000 was lowered to 16, in line with the law governing heterosexual sex. Those changes, however, are not retroactive; consequently there remain thousands of individuals who are required to disclose they have a criminal record for committing an offense that is currently completely legal. Currently, those with a conviction must disclose that information as part of the program of Criminal Records Bureau checks if they apply to work or to volunteer for charities or other organisations. Featherstone told MPs in early December that it is “unfair and “unjust” men should still fear being exposed for an act that “has long not been illegal,” adding that with the passage of legislation “such men will never again have to disclose that information. I hope very much that those gay men whom that has inhibited from volunteering will now find that inhibition removed.” Featherstone is also expect to announce that in 2011 same sex civil partnership ceremonies will be permitted in churches, a smaller part of a larger plan to grant gay couples full marriage equality.

Ireland will have its first official same sex partnership relationship recognised in April, 2011, Irish Central reporting that Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern announced the new law affording a range of rights comes into effect January 1st, 2011, but it will be three months before the fist ceremony is performed. Ahem said that the new law will recognise the many different relationships in modern Ireland, saying “Gay couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the State, may now formalise their relationships in the eye of the law and society at large. Their relationships will be legally recognised and protected. Persons in committed gay relationships who wish to share duties and responsibilities now have the choice to register their partnership and become part of a legal regime that fully protects them in the course of that partnership and, if necessary, on its termination.”