<p><strong>Adam Wagner</strong>: Deputy lear of the Liberal Democrats' ments on gay marriage may be the end of a long and tortuo road for mpaigners</p>
Contents:
- A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
- GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
- GETTG MARRIED THE UK GAY MARRIAGE LAWS UK
- MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE
- HAS THE TIME E FOR GAY MARRIAGE THE UK?
A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
The prime mister hails an "important moment" for the untry as gay upl bee the first to wed unr a new law allowg same-sex marriag England and Wal. * uk law on gay marriage *
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. 1835: Jam Pratt and John Smh beme the last men Bra to be executed for homosexual acts. 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. Dpe cross-party support for the Act, MPs were hardly lg up to accept homosexualy as a legimate orientatn.
GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
Are you g to the UK to get married or to enter a civil partnership? Gay marriage laws the UK have changed - fd out what the legal requiremen * uk law on gay marriage *
"Even those supportg crimalisatn lled homosexualy 'a disabily' and 'a great weight of shame', " says the Huffgton Post. 1972: By the early 1970s, "gay rights anisatns were sprgg up lolly and natnally, " says the Lbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive. In 1972, upwards of 2, 000 gay men and women marched London's first Pri para.
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.
GETTG MARRIED THE UK GAY MARRIAGE LAWS UK
* uk law on gay marriage *
Several gay upl were wed at the stroke of midnight on 29 March 2014, when the law officially me to effect. Stland legalised gay marriage December 2014. Gay marriage remas illegal Northern Ireland.
MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE
Image source, Getty ImagIt's 50 years sce the partial crimalisatn of homosexual sex England and Wal.
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.
HAS THE TIME E FOR GAY MARRIAGE THE UK?
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.