When did beg gay bee legal the UK? | Metro News

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

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.

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.

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.

WHEN DID BEG GAY BEE LEGAL THE UK?

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.

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.

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

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.

Now, 50 years after homosexualy was supposedly “legalised” I have a crimal rerd for a crime that no longer exists, wh no opportuny to apply for to be expunged. 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.

LONDON PRI PARA: HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK

Crimal sanctns agast gay men are always terrible, but the punishment of women who transgrs and bee lbians – as wh any women who reject the harsh l of patriarchy – are, many ways worse. 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 rippl of homophobic legislatn are still beg felt by the gay muny, who are (pendg on the study) between two and 10 tim more likely than straight people to take their own liv. 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. Homosexualy was not crimalised Stland until the Crimal Jtice (Stland) Act 1980 and Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offenc (Northern Ireland) Orr 1982. 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.