Securg an equal age of nsent for gay and bi men was a long procs and provoked ugly bat ground harmful stereotyp.
Contents:
- LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN
- EQUAL AGE OF NSENT: A PREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR GAY PARY
- THE AGE OF NSENT FOR GAY AND BI MEN WAS FALLY EQUALISED 20 YEARS AGO TODAY, MARKG A MAMMOTH VICTORY FOR LOVE
- UK AGE OF CONSENT FOR GAY MEN WAS EQUALIZED 20 YEARS AGO
LOVE WS! AGE OF NSENT EQUALISED FOR GAY AND BI MEN
To mark LGBT + History Month, this blog post draws on a recently released Prime Mister’s Office file which documents a signifint advance gay rights soon after the turn of the lennium.
The Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 reprented a partial crimalisatn of male homosexualy: allowed two men to have sex private England and Wal provid they were over 21; much later, this provisn was extend to Stland and Northern Ireland. In 1994 Conservative MP Edwa Currie troduced an amendment to lower the age of nsent for homosexual acts, om 21 to 16 le wh that for heterosexual acts.
Movg the amendment on 21 Febary 1994, Mrs Currie clared: ‘It is the first time over a quarter of a century that the age of nsent for homosexuals has been discsed by the Hoe of Commons. The next polician to take up the mantle and advote for change on the age of nsent for gay men was Jack Straw, who served the Cabet om 1997 to 2010 unr the Labour ernments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Note the formaly of the phrase ‘Homosexual rights’ which is ed to scribe the document (and appears on the file ver) rather than ‘Gay rights’, for example, but this is to be expected when referrg to ernmental documents of this perd.
EQUAL AGE OF NSENT: A PREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR GAY PARY
In this letter to John Prtt, the Home Secretary’s stated aim is clear: ‘the purpose of this letter is to seek lleagu’ agreement to rcg the homosexual age of nsent to sixteen’. At the age of 17, 1994 Mr Sutherland had plaed to the Commissn that the higher age of nsent for homosexuals (18) as opposed to that for heterosexuals (16) was a breach of his right to privacy unr Article 8 of the European Conventn for the Protectn of Human Rights and his right not to be discrimated agast his private life unr Article 14. On 8 January 2001, the Sexual Offenc (Amendment) Act fally me to force, rcg the age of nsent for gay and bisexual men to 16 England, Stland and Wal, and 17 Northern Ireland.
The Sexual Offenc Act 1967 ma chang so that homosexual men over the age of 21 uld have sexual relatnships, 1994 a further change saw rced to those aged over Sexual Offenc (Amendment) Act 2000 ma the ag of legal nsent for heterosexuals and homosexuals equal and the legal age of nsent for homosexual people was changed to 16.
“Make sure your boyiend’s at least 21 / So only your iends and your brothers get done / Lie to your workmat, lie to your folks / Put down the queens and tell anti-queer jok / Gay Lib’s ridiculo, jo their lghter ‘The buggers are legal now, what more are they after?
THE AGE OF NSENT FOR GAY AND BI MEN WAS FALLY EQUALISED 20 YEARS AGO TODAY, MARKG A MAMMOTH VICTORY FOR LOVE
Technilly, we both uld have gone to jail bee the age of nsent for gay men England and Wal was 21, which had been set by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act. Nothg changed until 1966, when Labour MP Leo Abse’s Private Members’ Bill ught the changg mood the untry: a poll the Daily Mail a year before had revealed that 63 per cent of rears who rpond did not believe homosexualy should be a crime, although a stunng 93 per cent still thought gay men “need medil or psychiatric treatment” (homosexualy was still classified as a mental illns the UK right up until 1973).
Anthony Pchg, a profsor of immunology at Barts Hospal, London, told MPs 1994 that doctors were faced wh a new epimic of HIV fectn bee young gay men were not part of a “legal” muny. Meanwhile, Dr Michael Forth, a nsultant psychiatrist at Royal Liverpool Universy Hospal, said clil work wh stunts showed that many gays their late teens were at risk of prsn and learng difficulti through tryg to nform wh the law. One of Stonewall’s founrs, actor Ian McKellen, wrote: “We shall hear, once more, that boys mature later than girls and need the law to protect them om what may be only ‘a homosexual stage’.
Elsewhere, the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev David Jenks told Cambridge Universy stunts that jtice mand an equal age of nsent and that homosexuals who chose to live partnerships should be affirmed. On the night of Monday 21 Febary 1994, durg an emotnal bate before the vote, Tony Blair said, “People are entled to thk that homosexualy is wrong, ” he said, “but they are not entled to e the crimal law to force that view upon others. The universy study nclud by sayg: “It is important that we velop effective strategi to argue for lbian and gay rights, by prrisg the notn of human rights; by highlightg that human rights are universal, alienable, and divisible; and by clearly illtratg how issu such as the age of nsent are human rights issu.
UK AGE OF CONSENT FOR GAY MEN WAS EQUALIZED 20 YEARS AGO
In summer 1994, followg the footsteps of Greenhalgh, Parry and Wil, he, along wh Christopher Morris, plaed to the European Commissn for Human Rights that the fixg of the mimum age for lawful homosexual activi at 18 vlated his right to rpect for private life unr Article eight of the European Conventn for the Protectn of Human Rights and breached Article 14 of the Conventn, which prohibs discrimatn.