Gay man sentenced as sex offender
AGE OF CONSENT / For having mutually agreed upon sex with 15-year-old
Jeremy Hainsworth / Vancouver / Friday, November 04, 2011
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A gay Vancouver man will spend the next 20 years listed in Canada's sexual offender registry and serve 18 months probation for having mutually agreed upon sex with a 15-year-old youth he met on Grindr.

The youth, now 17 and openly gay, signed up on Grindr but lied about his age during registration in order to use the smartphone cruising application, the Court heard during sentencing. Grindr users must be at least 17 to sign up.

"The complainant was legally unable to consent," Crown prosecutor Michael Mahoney told the court. Stephen Harper’s Conservative government raised the age of consent from 14 to 16 in 2009.

Gordon Brent Tynan, 56, pleaded guilty to sexual assault on Oct 26. Neither the Crown nor defence sought jail time.

The new age-of-consent rules force judges to penalize and label gay men as sex offenders for having sex with anyone under 16, whether it’s mutually agreed upon or not.

Gay activist Andrew Brett lobbied against raising the age of consent. He says it's cases such as Tynan's that show how the law has gutted judges' ability to use their own discretion on the particular circumstances of a case.

“It's better to have a judge make these decisions rather than having hard rules no matter what the circumstances," Brett says.

"The ability to give informed consent isn't age-related at all,” Dr John Lamont, then-president of the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health, said at a Senate hearing in 2008. “In my clinical practice, I've met 12-year-olds that are capable of giving informed consent, and I've met 20- and 30-year-olds who I've struggled with their ability to give informed consent."

Tynan was sentenced by BC Supreme Court Justice Gregory Bowden on Nov 4. Bowden agreed with defence lawyer Richard Peck's suggestion that "there was certainly a mutuality of agreement" between Tynan and the youth. He called the case "unique in many respects."

Tynan met the youth three times between Aug 2009 and April 2010, after they made contact on Grindr.

Tynan first picked up the youth from his North Shore home. Together, they drove to Tynan's Coal Harbour condominium and had sex before Tynan drove the youth to work. There was no conversation about the youth's age, Bowden heard.

In late August, the pair again hooked up through Grindr. Tynan picked up the youth, and they went back to his condo, kissed and had anal and oral sex.

It was after that, the preliminary record says, that the youth said he felt guilty and told Tynan he was younger than the older man believed. But the youth didn't know if Tynan heard him.

The youth then invited Tynan to his house where they had sex, before his mother came home and found Tynan naked in her son’s bathroom. That’s when the youth came out to his mother.

"[The youth] was two months shy of being able to legally consent," Peck said, adding that email and text messages show the youth had contact with other older men.

Tynan, a real estate developer and trained lawyer, was arrested by the sex crimes unit of the North Vancouver RCMP on April 13, 2010, and was charged with sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault. Bowden stayed the other charges but ordered Tynan to submit a DNA sample.

During sentencing submissions, Crown and defence suggested either a suspended sentence or a conditional discharge with possible community service as punishment. They agreed jail time would serve no purpose.

Tynan would not comment on the sentence.

The court heard that the youth continues to be a star athlete and student. His name is covered by a statutory publication ban.


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Reader Comments


 
I Support the Court
I support the court in it's decision to place Tynan on the registry. Whether there was conversation regarding the youths age or not, it was illegal. Tynan is a 56 year old man, and should know much, much better. It's gentlemen like him that make all gays look like dirty perverts. Travis Hay travishay.ca
Travis Hay, Toronto Ontario
11/04/11 4:13 PM EST
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Age of Consent exists for a reason
Not a lot of sympathy here. Tynan would have had to suspect his partner was underage - and if that's a credible possibility, the smart (not to mention gentlemanly) thing to do is say no. The law aside, it's just creepy and manipulative to seek out teenagers at 56.
avr, Ottawa Ontario
11/04/11 4:29 PM EST
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Ridiculous
It's cases like this that cheapen the sex offender registry. When I hear someone is a sex offender, I don't even judge them immediately anymore because I know all the ridiculous reasons people end up on the registry. Putting people like this on makes it hard to identify the really dangerous people, the whole point of the registry. Furthermore, I would submit that knowing he ruined a man's life with his lie about his age will probably cause more psychological harm to this teenager than the co sensual sex ever could.
John K., Glassboro, NJ, USA USA
11/04/11 6:41 PM EST
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What's the boy's punishment for lying by omission?
Where's the obligation of the young man to know the law and disclose his age? He has other rights and responsibilities as a near-adult. Why not here? On the other hand, informed consent should not be legally precluded here. Why can't it be determined on a case by case basis? Legal presumptions about consent are frequently wrong in fact.
Marco Luxe, Los Angeles Calif., US
11/05/11 3:31 PM EST
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Totally Agree With You Travis
this guy was almost old enough to be his grandfather!! The last line of your post is VERY true, gives us all a bad name.
Dave, Vancouver BC
11/06/11 4:24 PM EST
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Agree with Travis...too lol
I personally agree with what you said Travis. I think this is frankly a rather disturbing case and I'm kind of surprised the 17 year old consented, nothing against older men, but I mean honestly I'm sure he could have found someone closer to his age on Grindr (not that I think one should use it, hooking up online is quite risky if you ask me, but to each their own). None the less, I mean a 56 year old man going after someone 15 at the time is rather disturbing. If it was an 18 year old maybe less so, but yeah I think keeping age of consent at 16 makes sense, and I believe the court's decision was completely the proper one.
Sean, London Ontario
11/07/11 8:10 PM EST
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Travesty of justice
Not Mr. Tynan - nor the youth involved - nor the public's faith in a meaningful sex offender registry - were served well with this judgement. It's ridiculous to tie the hands of a judge, when sentencing a case like this. Mr. Tynan underwent a psychiatric assessment, which concluded that he is NOT a paedophile. As that is society's concern here, why then, is he on that registry? Tynan's inclusion on that list makes a mockery of it - and of all those who actually have been victimized by a paedophile. As to the youth? Speaking as someone who was sexualized by a paedophile (who should have ended up on that registry), but then relentlessly sought ought sex with older men, I'm very relieved that none of them ended up in the awful situation Mr. Tynan has. I knew what I wanted, was determined to get it, and did. Those men did not abuse me. This young man, falsifying his age to get on Grindr so that he could fulfill his own desires, will now have to live with what those desires did to the man he sought out; more than once. There's the crime. And it's against the supposed victim. I don't know how or when this young person's innate sexuality was awakened. My guess would be that it was earlier than it should have been. But that was not by Mr. Tynan. I feel badly for all of those involved in this case. Including the family who had to learn of this young person's homosexuality in this way. Apparently it's not ok with them that he is gay. There's another crime, but who's crime is it? And I feel badly for all of those who want to dispel the sex-negative, often homophobic (in some cases internalized) attitude, prevalent in our culture, and sadly witnessed by some of the earlier comments here, when it comes to having a meaningful and helpful discussion about sexuality. The outcome of this case did not serve any one of us well. Not the public. Not Mr. Tynan. Nor, most importantly, the unnamed youth.
Nash, Vancouver BC
11/08/11 1:51 AM EST
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Adult Responsibility is Paramount
I'd be both sickened and wanting to kill if some guy, that age ,decided it was ok to have sex with my daughter, whether she lied about her age or not. Kids now a days might look older then we did at that same age, but they still look, talk and act young. Personally I wouldn't date anyone younger then 30 and even then I'm not sure I'd go that low since I have zero in common with them. That aside as a dyke I can tell that someone is under 20 and not so hard to tell those under 16. I'm thinking so can most men. Kids lie, people lie but if you are at risk then it's up to you to make sure. I can empathize that this guy now has to live with this but dam he is the adult here and he isn't in jail. This should be an extension on the safer sex discussion. Don't trust your partner, use a condom. Don't trust what they say their age is, check to make sure they really are old enough.
femme, Toronto On
11/10/11 11:46 AM EST
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hypocrisy
All these 'he should know better, how disgusting to want to have sex with teenagers at that age" blah blah blah is so much hypocrisy that it is sickening. First of all, the teenager didn't tell his real age, but the man did... In other words, the KID knew how old his partner was, and CHOSE to go with him anyway. Maybe the kid LIKES daddy figures; since when should other people decide what turns ANOTHER person on? The real hypocrisy is parents who tell their kids "You have the right to say no!" but don't realize that the corollary is that they have the right to say YES! As for the law, changing the age of consent to 16 was more than a mistake, it was a total lack of respect for the individual. A teenager has desires, knows very well WHO turns him on, and should have the right to his own body AND his desires like any other person.
Ken, Pieta Malta
11/12/11 11:47 AM EST
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