Securg an equal age of nsent for gay and bi men was a long procs and provoked ugly bat ground harmful stereotyp.
Contents:
- LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN
- EQUAL AGE OF NSENT: A PREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR GAY PARY
- UK AGE OF CONSENT FOR GAY MEN WAS EQUALIZED 20 YEARS AGO
LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN
Securg an equal age of nsent for gay and bi men was a long procs and provoked ugly bat ground harmful stereotyp. On 5 April 1993, Stonewall backed three young gay men - Hugo Greenhalgh, William Parry and Ralph Wil - at the European Court. It was argued that the law banng ‘homosexual acts’ was a breach of their human rights and terfered wh their private liv.
In the UK, the age of nsent is 16, and this is also the legal age for gay sex. “Make sure your boyiend’s at least 21 / So only your iends and your brothers get done / Lie to your workmat, lie to your folks / Put down the queens and tell anti-queer jok / Gay Lib’s ridiculo, jo their lghter ‘The buggers are legal now, what more are they after? ’” – ‘Glad To Be Gay’, Tom Robson Band, 1979.
EQUAL AGE OF NSENT: A PREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR GAY PARY
Technilly, we both uld have gone to jail bee the age of nsent for gay men England and Wal was 21, which had been set by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act. Gay men faced the ultimate sanctn right up until 1861, durg the reign of Queen Victoria. It remend that ‘homosexual behavur between nsentg adults’ be crimalised, wh an age of nsent of 21.
Nothg changed until 1966, when Labour MP Leo Abse’s Private Members’ Bill ught the changg mood the untry: a poll the Daily Mail a year before had revealed that 63 per cent of rears who rpond did not believe homosexualy should be a crime, although a stunng 93 per cent still thought gay men “need medil or psychiatric treatment” (homosexualy was still classified as a mental illns the UK right up until 1973). Harold Wilson’s admistratn passed the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, makg gay sex legal between two nsentg men private. The gay scene was almost non-existent even major towns and I remaed an outlaw – albe a closeted one.
Anthony Pchg, a profsor of immunology at Barts Hospal, London, told MPs 1994 that doctors were faced wh a new epimic of HIV fectn bee young gay men were not part of a “legal” muny. Meanwhile, Dr Michael Forth, a nsultant psychiatrist at Royal Liverpool Universy Hospal, said clil work wh stunts showed that many gays their late teens were at risk of prsn and learng difficulti through tryg to nform wh the law.
UK AGE OF CONSENT FOR GAY MEN WAS EQUALIZED 20 YEARS AGO
All three had suffered homophobic attacks. Former chairman of the Sttish Conservativ, Bill Walker, said: “It is neher natural nor normal to rry out homosexual activy. One of Stonewall’s founrs, actor Ian McKellen, wrote: “We shall hear, once more, that boys mature later than girls and need the law to protect them om what may be only ‘a homosexual stage’.
We will be told that young men should ntue to be dissuad om homosexualy bee gay men lead such unhappy and unstable liv. Those gay men who have difficulty wh their sexualy suffer greatly bee of the discrimatn they face [which] starts wh the unequal age of nsent. Elsewhere, the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev David Jenks told Cambridge Universy stunts that jtice mand an equal age of nsent and that homosexuals who chose to live partnerships should be affirmed.
On the night of Monday 21 Febary 1994, durg an emotnal bate before the vote, Tony Blair said, “People are entled to thk that homosexualy is wrong, ” he said, “but they are not entled to e the crimal law to force that view upon others. The Government, Parliament, are supportg homophobia, supportg prejudice and supportg victimisatn of a mory group.