Fifty years of gay rights but some the Brish media are peddlg the same homophobia

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
• LONDON PRI PARA: HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
• KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

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

By The Numbers78% of Brons say they support same-sex marriage0% of 500 Brish Mlims terviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptableHistoryHomosexual activy Uned Kgdom? Female homosexualy and sexual acts were not addrsed the law, and therefore, they technilly would have been legal, though the law often applied the law towards women. Current statSce Nov 18, 2003No censorship Prev law repealed by sectn 122 of the Lol Government Act punishmentSectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988 stated that lol thori uld not "tentnally promote homosexualy or publish material wh the tentn of promotg homosexualy" or "promote the teachg any mataed school of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship".

Current statSce Jan 12, 2000Legal The Mistry of Defence were forced to change their stance on when the European Court of Human Rights led September 1999 that the then current ban on gays the ary was unlawful.

LONDON PRI PARA: HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK

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. 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.

For example, gay sex remaed illegal Stland and Northern Ireland until 1982 while transgenr people weren't protected equaly legislatn until 2010.

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.

KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

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.

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.