The 1967 Sexual Offenc Act was a game-changer for gay men. Our wrers reflect on what changed, and what didn’t
Contents:
- A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
- WHEN DID BEG GAY BEE LEGAL THE UK?
- GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
- LONDON PRI PARA: HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
* when was being gay legalised uk *
The act, which crimalised homosexual sex acts between nsentg men over the age of 21, opened the door to a slew of legal and social chang which would transform the way Brish society viewed same-sex relatnships over the next 50 are some of the key dat the history of gay rights the UK:1533: The Buggery Act, the first ever law to specifilly outlaw anal sex, was signed to English law. The same year Wilblood was the only openly gay man to ttify before Lord Wolfenn's quiry, which would ultimately remend the crimalisatn of homosexualy.
WHEN DID BEG GAY BEE LEGAL THE UK?
1957: The Wolfenn mtee published s report, based on three years of ttimony om police, psychiatrists and gay men but one of the mtee's 15 members, drawn om the world of polics, law, medice and amia, agreed that homosexual acts between nsentg men over the age of legal majory - 21 at the time - should not be a matter for the law. 1988: Then-Prime Mister Margaret Thatcher troduced an amendment to the Lol Government Act 1988 banng state schools om teachg or promotg the "acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship" notor "Sectn 28" ed wispread outrage and as the talyst for a massive surge gay activism, cludg the formatn of LGBT rights group Stonewall UK. 1988: In the year 1988, unr the ernance of Margaret Thatcher, sectn 28 prohibed the ‘promotn’ of homosexualy and rtricted teachg about homosexualy schools.
GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
Kg Henry the VIII was the reigng monarch when the first time that parliament passed a legislatn aimed at persecutg homosexual men for the act of sodomy.
In 1885 the Crimal law amendment act ma any homosexual act illegal, wh or whout a wns prent, that even acts mted a private settg uld still be prosecuted. Although female homosexualy was never directly targeted by any legislatn, was however discsed parliament for the first time 1921 wh the aim to troduce discrimatory legislatn (to bee the Crimal Law Amendment Bill 1921). The Report of the Departmental Commtee on Homosexual Offenc and Prostutn, better known as the Wolfenn Report, was published 1957, three years after the mtee first met September 1954.
LONDON PRI PARA: HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
It was missned rponse to evince that homosexualy uld not legimately be regard as a disease and aimed to brg about change the current law by makg remendatns to the Government. In the years that followed, gay sexualy was policed more aggrsively than before and the number of men arrted for breachg those ndns actually rose nsirably. Policg the 80s and early 90s was vilently homophobic, whipped up by hysteria around Aids and gay-bag newspapers such as the Sun, Daily Mail and News of the World.
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”. We mt stay vigilantI grew up the north of Ireland - at a time when, as I always say, was almost as difficult to be heterosexual as homosexual.