Age of nsent for gay and bi men equalised 20 years ago the UK

Contents:

• LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN
• GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
• THE AGE OF NSENT FOR GAY AND BI MEN WAS FALLY EQUALISED 20 YEARS AGO TODAY, MARKG A MAMMOTH VICTORY FOR LOVE
• KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN

To mark LGBT + History Month, this blog post draws on a recently released Prime Mister’s Office file which documents a signifint advance gay rights soon after the turn of the lennium. The Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 reprented a partial crimalisatn of male homosexualy: allowed two men to have sex private England and Wal provid they were over 21; much later, this provisn was extend to Stland and Northern Ireland.

In 1994 Conservative MP Edwa Currie troduced an amendment to lower the age of nsent for homosexual acts, om 21 to 16 le wh that for heterosexual acts. Movg the amendment on 21 Febary 1994, Mrs Currie clared: ‘It is the first time over a quarter of a century that the age of nsent for homosexuals has been discsed by the Hoe of Commons.

GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED

The next polician to take up the mantle and advote for change on the age of nsent for gay men was Jack Straw, who served the Cabet om 1997 to 2010 unr the Labour ernments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Note the formaly of the phrase ‘Homosexual rights’ which is ed to scribe the document (and appears on the file ver) rather than ‘Gay rights’, for example, but this is to be expected when referrg to ernmental documents of this perd.

In this letter to John Prtt, the Home Secretary’s stated aim is clear: ‘the purpose of this letter is to seek lleagu’ agreement to rcg the homosexual age of nsent to sixteen’. At the age of 17, 1994 Mr Sutherland had plaed to the Commissn that the higher age of nsent for homosexuals (18) as opposed to that for heterosexuals (16) was a breach of his right to privacy unr Article 8 of the European Conventn for the Protectn of Human Rights and his right not to be discrimated agast his private life unr Article 14.

On 8 January 2001, the Sexual Offenc (Amendment) Act fally me to force, rcg the age of nsent for gay and bisexual men to 16 England, Stland and Wal, and 17 Northern Ireland. Approval fell the 1980s when the Aids crisis and the troductn of sectn 28 - a law prohibg the promotn or teachg of homosexualy schools - uld have swayed public opn acrdg to NatCen, the thk tank which ns the a steady and rapid rise om the early 1990s reflects a wir trend of social liberalisatn, somethg also seen changg attus to pre-maral sex.

THE AGE OF NSENT FOR GAY AND BI MEN WAS FALLY EQUALISED 20 YEARS AGO TODAY, MARKG A MAMMOTH VICTORY FOR LOVE

Approval of pre-maral sex grew ially among the young - as they got olr they retaed that belief, and soon both old and young were more liberal on the same-sex relatnships the shift attu has been quicker - not only did young people wh liberal views get olr, but olr people changed their mds, might part be bee chang the law, such as the legalisatn of civil partnerships and then gay marriage, have a powerful fluence on people's views, a NatCen spokman suggts.

1967 - Sex between two men over 21 and " private" is crimalised1980 - Decrimalisatn Stland1982 - Decrimalisatn Northern Ireland1994 - The age of nsent for two male partners is lowered to 182000 - The ban on gay and bisexual people servg the armed forc is lifted; the age of nsent is equalised for same- and oppose-sex partners at 162002 - Same-sex upl are given equal rights when to adoptn2003 - Gross cency is removed as an offence2004 - A law allowg civil partnerships is passed2007 - Discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn is banned2010 - Genr reassignment is add as a protected characteristic equaly legislatn2014 - Gay marriage be legal England, Wal and Stland3.

Those keen to crimalise any public displays of nsensual homosexual activy still had tools to do so through the offence of "gross cency", which had a broad terpretatn. Prosecutns were far more mon until the 1990s but have tailed off sce, partly bee of social attus to gay relatnships, says Kate Goold, a solicor at Bdmans.

KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

Government has attempted to redrs this legacyGiven this legacy of crimalisatn, the ernment troduced a scheme October 2012 allowg those prosecuted unr funct gay-sex-related laws, to have their nvictns removed om police and urt Home Office timat that there were about 50, 000 such offenc rerd on the system om the 1950s until of the 50, 000, only an timated 16, 000 are for people who are still livg and so able to all of the 16, 000 offenc are eligible to be "disregard".

Rerdg of homophobic hate crim has risenA steep rise homophobic hate crim has been rerd over the past five years, but this is thought to be large part down to an crease people reportg cints rather than a genue rise crime. The Natnal Police Chiefs Council's lead on homophobic crim, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Haton, says: "Tradnally, homophobic hate crime has been signifintly unr-reported and we do not believe that current statistics accurately reflect actual levels of abe. It's strikg that people aged 16-24 are more than five tim more likely than those aged over 65 to intify as gay, lbian or Office for Natnal Statistics keeps rerds of people who intify themselv as gay, lbian or bisexual - 1.