1967: The myth of gay crimalisatn | Peter Tatchell Foundatn

Contents:

• HOW 1967 CHANGED GAY LIFE BRA: ‘I THK FOR MY GENERATN, WE’RE STILL A LTLE B UNEASY’
• A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• BUGGERY, BRIBERY AND A MTEE: THE STORY OF HOW GAY SEX WAS CRIMALISED BRA
• 1967: THE MYTH OF GAY CRIMALISATN
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

HOW 1967 CHANGED GAY LIFE BRA: ‘I THK FOR MY GENERATN, WE’RE STILL A LTLE B UNEASY’

I rell durg our bate about gay marriage, a Ukip uncilllor, who is a grown adult, an ted man, genuely said that if the UK legalised gay marriage, we would be “bet by natural disasters such as storms, disease, ptilence and war”. I wore my disobedience and ristance to heterosexualy like a badge of between beg sacked om jobs, thrown out of pubs, beaten up, sexually asslted, and labelled a “eak” and “kiddy fiddler”, I was rmed by some gay men and heterosexuals that lbians were not opprsed bee we were “not illegal”. I wnsed women havg their children removed and placed the ctody of vlent ex-partners; beg raped by police officers as “punishment” when our clubs were raid on a pretext; and beg celly rejected by fai and childhood thor Mreen Duffy, now 83, was the first lbian the UK to e out pre-1967 and speak agast anti-gay discrimatn.

The ia that gay people the UK would be nied the right to marry seems antiquated – let alone the ia that they would be if the last few years of polil upheaval have tght anythg, is that the path to equaly is rarely a lear one. Straight iends are shocked to learn that the UK there are still signifint rtrictns on gay men givg blood, or that there are still 29 US stat where is legal to fire somebody for beg gay (never md the untri where rri a ath penalty)’s not to ny how much posive change has occurred - there’s never been a better time to be gay the UK. “When I went to work the theatre, I immediately saw somethg pletely different – which was an environment which there were lots of gay people who were all perfectly ol wh beg gay, although they never said publicly.

A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK

Callow not that those who uld do so still felt the need to leave the untry orr to live gay liv, wh Tangier, voutly Mlim Moroc, providg an atmosphere of relative openns for thoands of Brish left London 1968 to go to universy Belfast, which he likens to steppg to a time mache (the 1967 act didn’t apply there, and male homosexualy remaed illegal until 1982). In 1988, wh the Aids crisis at s peak, the Brish ernment cid to kick the gay muny while was down, g the famo sectn 28 to ban any “promotn” of homosexualy schools, cludg “the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship”.

” Some of the lbian, gay or bisexual people of this movement clud wrers and poets such as Langston Hugh, Countee Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston; Profsor Ala Locke; mic cric and photographer Carl Van Vechten, and entertaers Ma Raey, Bsie Smh, Ethel Waters and Gladys Bentley. Gay and lbian people joed as well – men the ary livg same-sex dorms, and women as part of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and factori on the home ont found themselv same-sex surroundgs as well.

1945 – German Homosexual men, signated by a pk triangle on their clothg, were the last group to be released om the Nazi ncentratn mps after liberatn by the Allied forc bee Paragraph 175 of the German Crimal Co stated that homosexual relatns between mal to be illegal.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

The APA found that “the latt and bt scientific evince shows that sexual orientatn and exprsns of genr inty occur naturally…and that short, there is no scientific evince that sexual orientatn, be heterosexual, homosexual or otherwise, is a eewill choice. 1997 – Ellen DeGener, a edian, TV actor and televisn host was one of the first popular entertaers who publicly me out as a lbian durg an terview on the Oprah Wey show and then beme the first openly gay character on the TV show, “Ellen. This was one of the most notor anti-gay hate crim Ameri and rulted a feral law passed 10 years later 2009 lled the “Hate Crim Preventn Act”, a feral law agast bias crim directed at lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr people.

BUGGERY, BRIBERY AND A MTEE: THE STORY OF HOW GAY SEX WAS CRIMALISED BRA

Texas (Supreme Court Decisn)Ruled by a vote of 6-3 that a Kansas law crimalizg gay or lbian sex was unnstutnal clarg the importance of nstutnal liberty and privacy nsistent wh the due procs clse of the Fourteenth Amendment. A Natnal Opn Poll extracted om the Daily Mail October 1965 stated that 63% of people polled disagreed that homosexual acts private should be crimal, although 93% believed that ‘homosexuals’ were need of medil or psychiatric treatment (HO 291/127).

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.

1967: THE MYTH OF GAY CRIMALISATN

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. 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.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

This is likely to unrtimate the real numbers as the survey don't pture sexual attractn or 2005 the ernment tried to timate the size of the lbian, gay and bisexual populatn and me up wh a larger number - 5-7% of the populatn.

Gay people say they feel ls happy than their straight peersPeople who intify as gay, lbian and bisexual report lower levels of well-beg than heterosexuals the ONS looks at happs, life satisfactn, and the extent to which people feel their life is worthwhile. Gay and lbian people report higher levels of anxiety than straight people, but bisexual people are even more likely to suffer om the lbian, gay and bisexual people are also more likely to suffer om suicidal thoughts than their straight iends, acrdg to a 2014 survey by LGBT support chary Metro. Same-sex upl have gaed equal marriage rightsCivil partnerships were legalised 2004 throughout the Uned Kgdom, wh the first ceremoni takg place at the end of the followg 140, 000 people entered to civil partnerships between 2005 and 2015, the last year for which figur are the UK, gay and lbian upl were granted many of the same rights as married heterosexuals, albe wh a few differenc around issu like private-sector meant that upl uld no longer be kept out of hospal rooms when their partner was sick, they would no longer lose their home or bs bee of tax laws, and they had parental rights over marriage was legalised a later, wh the first ceremoni takg place England, Wal and Stland 2014.

Countri where gay marriage is legal2010 Iceland, Portugal, Argenta2013 Uguay, New Zealand, France, Brazil2014 UK (excludg Northern Ireland)2015 Luxembourg, Ireland, Mexi, USAA further 28 untri guarantee some civil-partnership regnn acrdg to ILGA.