1967: The myth of gay crimalisatn | Peter Tatchell Foundatn

Contents:

• ILLEGAL TO BE GAY - STLAND'S HISTORY
• COMG OOT: THE FABULO HISTORY OF GAY STLAND
• 1967: THE MYTH OF GAY CRIMALISATN
• KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

ILLEGAL TO BE GAY - STLAND'S HISTORY

Image source, PAImage ptn, Gay Pri Edburgh 2016Stland pris self on beg one of the most progrsive untri Europe on issu of sexualy and genr inty but for gay men was not always such an open-md place. Nick explas his bsh wh the says: "I was so trated and lonely and isolated and all those thgs that sgle people go through, and more so when you feel you're outsi of society, that I did what many gay men have done and that is I ed to e toilets to try to fd some sort of ntact.

Relig groups, legal reprentativ om the home natns, civic lears and legislators all gave evince to the Departmental Commtee on Homosexual Offenc and Prostutn Great Bra fally submted s report 1957.

" Jam Adair - voice of dissent A Sttish voice who opposed crimalisatn of homosexualy Stland was Jam Adair OBE, a former Procurator Fisl of Glasgow and sat on the Wolfenn mtee and formed the only dissentg voice.

COMG OOT: THE FABULO HISTORY OF GAY STLAND

"Image source, GPAImage ptn, Police Stland are the top twenty of Stonewall's equali x and march regularly gay pri events StlandThe Sttish ernment has plans to troduce a scheme which would allow some gay men to have historil nvictns, no longer nsired illegal, to be removed om crimal rerds.

2019: Stland’s Makar Jackie Kay (who has wrten of how she realised she was gay at 17, but felt unable to al wh this for some years after) pos a poem about Mary Queen of Sts givg birth for the new Edburgh Castle d gui. "He says homosexualy was somethg fai, relig stutns, the medil profsn and society at large all chose to source, Elae LivgstoneImage ptn, San (left) and Gerrie Douglas-Stt had Nila Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie as wns at their weddg"Growg up queer post-war Stland is sentially occupyg a social and sexual wilrns, " Dr Meek of male homosexualy had been outlawed for centuri and were ma stricter the late 19th Century but same-sex ntact between women had never been targeted law and was not illegal. "Image source, Equaly Network/Same Love PhotographyImage ptn, Douglas Pretsell and Peter Gloster formalised their marriage SydneyPeople went to prison for sometim two years or were locked up psychiatric 1957, after a succsn of well-known men were nvicted of homosexual offenc, the Wolfenn report remend that "homosexual behavur between nsentg adults private should no longer be a crimal offence".

1967: THE MYTH OF GAY CRIMALISATN

But bee of Jam Adair, homosexualy Stland remaed illegal, classified as crimally-praved source, Getty ImagMany gay Sts had to rign themselv to a life the 1969, a brave group of gay Sts cid they uld not change their sexualy so they set out to change SMG (Sttish Mori Group) arranged diss and get-togethers for gay men and for lbian women. The SMG started to make money and leased property Broughton Street Edburgh where set up the Gay Informatn Centre and operated a telephone, historian and gay activist Bob Cant says: "I thk the Sttish Mori Group serv an enormo amount of cred. "Thirteen years after the law was reformed England, Labour MP Rob Cook lodged an amendment the Sttish Crimal Jtice Bill and homosexualy was fally crimalised Stland ptn, Leanne and Marie Banks were one of the first gay upl Stland to bee marriedThat saw an explosn of gay culture to the mastream.

KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

"Dpe the study relatg to dg addicts and the figur beg batable, homosexual sex was once aga portrayed as somethg to 1987 Margaret Thatcher's ernment went to war wh the gay source, Tged Memori / Equaly NetworkImage ptn, Joe Schofield (left) and partner Mallm Brown (right) were among the first to marry unr the new lawThe prime mister told the Tory nference: "Children who need to be tght the tradnal moral valu are beg tght that they have an alienable right to be gay.

"There was outrage and protts across the untry at this rollg back of the rights of gay people but the law stayed place until the re-tablishment of the Sttish Parliament of s first acts was to repeal Sectn 28 but had a battle on s hands.

Journalist David Torrance says that spe beg very unpleasant at the time was a "thartic" experience that got Stland talkg about gay rights issu and fally swept away the old the Millennium, Sts attus to homosexualy have changed dramatilly. Surveys suggt that more than two thirds of Sts actively approve of gay marriage and is now homophobia that is 2005, civil partnerships were ma legal for gay upl and the followg year same-sex upl were able to year, as the Commonwealth Gam was beg shown around the world, Stland clared s new openns wh a kilted gay kiss as part of the openg year end wh gay marriage beg legal Stland and the lear of the Sttish Conservativ, a lbian, passnately supportg the move. 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.

When I terviewed Duffy she told me that her opn there has long been an assumptn that lbians have historilly not suffered as much direct prejudice as gay men bee the crimal law, until Sectn 28, targeted only men.

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.

The Sexual Offenc (Stland) Act (2009) also leted the anti-gay termology of ‘gross cency’ and ‘sodomy’ om the statut and a new set of fully genr and sexual orientatn ntral offenc has been tablished. From 1 October 2012 people England and Wal wh nvictns and utns for nsensual gay sex, which are no longer unlawful, n apply to the Home Office to have the offenc removed om their crimal rerds. Homosexualy was crimalised on the Isle of Man 1992 and s first Gay Pri event took place last Poole-Wilson, the home affairs mister, said new legislatn would e to force June at the new act will pardon those nvicted for a historil sexual offence if the act qutn is no longer a crime.

While the pardons will be tomatic, people will have to apply to have historil nvictns stck om their rerds a “disregard procs” years ago the island’s then chief mister apologised for the way gay men had been treated, havg had their hom raid and been put on trial for nsensual sexual activy.

On 5 July 1991, the Manx bank holiday of Tynwald Day, he wore a ncentratn mp uniform fashned om Marks & Spencer pyjamas to petn parliament to legalise homosexualy, makg parallels wh the Nazi persecutn of gay people.

“It’s good that people are fally beg pardoned, but we are still wag for an apology om the chief nstable of the Isle of Man police to apologise for the way the force persecuted gay people, ” said was unable to get a job for 10 years after The Tynwald Day prott and claims his hoe was put unr nstant surveillance by police, qutng everybody who me and was never arrted but has iends who were, some of whom left the island, never to return.