Gay Adoptn: What are my optns? | LGBT Lawyers

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
• GAY ADOPTN: WHAT ARE MY OPTNS?
• FIRST GAY ADOPTN APPROVED FRANCE

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

Last year, more than one five children adopted through Coram were placed wh lovg lbian, gay, bi or trans adopters. This was particularly te of gay dads, many of whom thought their sexual inty was patible wh parenthood – spe havg always felt paternal.

Rearch published by CoramBAAF actually suggts that gay fathers show greater levels of teractn wh their child than other typ of parents.

The CoramBAAF Bookshop has a range of books for parents and children themed around adoptn and fosterg, wh a specific topic area for lbian and gay fai. 1954 Alan Turg ms suici by cyani poisong, 18 months after beg given a choice between two years prison or libido-rcg hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexualy. A succsn of well-known men, cludg Lord Montagu, Michael Pt-Rivers and Peter Wilblood, were nvicted of homosexual offenc as Brish police pursued a McCarthy-like purge of Society homosexuals.

GAY ADOPTN: WHAT ARE MY OPTNS?

Homosexualy was not crimalised Stland until the Crimal Jtice (Stland) Act 1980 and Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offenc (Northern Ireland) Orr 1982. 1971 The UK Gay Liberatn Front (GLF) was regnized as a polil movement the natnal prs and was holdg weekly meetgs of 200 to 300 people.

FIRST GAY ADOPTN APPROVED FRANCE

1980 Equivalent to The Sexual Offenc Act 1967 happened Stland wh the Crimal Jtice (Stland) Act 1980, and Northern Ireland two years later through the Homosexual Offenc (Northern Ireland) Orr 1982. 1981 The European Court of Human Rights Dudgeon v Uned Kgdom strik down Northern Ireland's crimalisatn of homosexual acts between nsentg adults, leadg to Northern Ireland crimalisg homosexual sex the followg year.

I'm the Labour MP for Islgton South and Fsbury, and I'm gay", makg him the first openly out homosexual polician the UK parliament.

1988 Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988 was an anti-gay piece of legislatn, which me to law on 24 May 1988 and was repealed on 21 June 2000 Stland, and on 18 November 2003 England and Wal ( did not apply to Northern Ireland).

2000 Sexual Offenc (Amendment) Act 2000 equalised the age of nsent for both homosexual and heterosexual acts, for both men and women, as 16 Great Bra, 17 Northern Ireland. Group homosexual sex was crimalised by sectn 12 of the Sexual Offenc Act 1956 beg omted, removg the offence of homosexual sex “when more than two persons take part or are prent”.

Speakg durg the parliamentary bate the Hoe of Lords, Barons O’Catha said: "By extendg the tegory of would-be adopters to clu homosexual upl of both genrs and habg heterosexuals, I ntend that the Bill is now beg ed as an stment of social engeerg... And Cardal Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church England and Wal, wrote to Cabet misters sayg Catholic adoptn agenci "would not be able to rec and nsir homosexual upl as potential adoptive parents. The number of children adopted by lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) upl and dividuals has reached rerd highs over the last 12 months, wh over 480 children placed lovg stable hom the last year.

Public OpnPublic opn Uned Kgdom appears to be somewhat divid on LGBTQ+ issu, as evinced by recent Kgdom SurveysSupport for Same-Sex Marriage of Brons say they support same-sex marriageViews of Homosexualy Among Brish Mlims 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. Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Unr the 1533 Buggery Act, homosexualy the UK was punishable by ath until marriage Uned Kgdom?

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 Oct 1, 2010Illegal The Equaly Act 2010 says you mtn’t be discrimated agast bee you’re gay, lbian, bisexual or heterosexual. 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.

HomosexualyGay MarriageCensorshipChangg GenrNon-bary genr regnnDiscrimatnEmployment DiscrimatnHog DiscrimatnAdoptnMilaryDonatg BloodConversn TherapyAge of Consent. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage natnwi 2015, while a seri of subsequent urt lgs have ma adoptn by same-sex upl legal all 50 stat. It wasn’t until 1997, however, that New Jersey beme the first state to allow same-sex upl to adopt jotly statewi, and not until 2010 did the last state, Florida, overturn a ban on adoptn by gay men and lbians.

Add to that the secrecy surroundg adoptn general, and you n see why gay adoptn history is srce until the send half of the 20th century.

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. There have been a number of other key dat on the journey towards sexual and genr equaly, not jt for gay men but for the rt of the LGBT muny. 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. 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.