Gay Marriage Around the World | Pew Rearch Center

Contents:

• A TIMELE OF GAY RIGHTS THE UK
• GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
• GAY MARRIAGE: 15,000 SAME-SEX UPL WED SCE LAW CHANGE
• GAY MARRIAGE LEGALISED AT MIDNIGHT ENGLAND AND WAL
• THE UNTRI WHERE GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL

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. 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.

"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.

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

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. 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.

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.

GAY MARRIAGE: 15,000 SAME-SEX UPL WED SCE LAW CHANGE

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. Crimalisatn of gay people ntued to this centuryIn 1967, homosexualy was only partially crimalised.

GAY MARRIAGE LEGALISED AT MIDNIGHT ENGLAND AND WAL

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. Prosecutns were far more mon until the 1990s but have tailed off sce, partly bee of social attus to gay relatnships, says Kate Goold, a solicor at Bdmans.

Government has attempted to redrs this legacyGiven this legacy of crimalisatn, the ernment troduced a scheme October 2012 allowg those prosecuted unr funct gay-sex-related laws, to have their nvictns removed om police and urt Home Office timat that there were about 50, 000 such offenc rerd on the system om the 1950s until of the 50, 000, only an timated 16, 000 are for people who are still livg and so able to all of the 16, 000 offenc are eligible to be "disregard". Rerdg of homophobic hate crim has risenA steep rise homophobic hate crim has been rerd over the past five years, but this is thought to be large part down to an crease people reportg cints rather than a genue rise crime. The Natnal Police Chiefs Council's lead on homophobic crim, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Haton, says: "Tradnally, homophobic hate crime has been signifintly unr-reported and we do not believe that current statistics accurately reflect actual levels of abe.

Young people are more likely to intify as gay, lbian or bisexualPublic opn has shifted hugely on same-sex relatnships over the past .

THE UNTRI WHERE GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL

It's strikg that people aged 16-24 are more than five tim more likely than those aged over 65 to intify as gay, lbian or Office for Natnal Statistics keeps rerds of people who intify themselv as gay, lbian or bisexual - 1. This is likely to unrtimate the real numbers as the survey don't pture sexual attractn or 2005 the ernment tried to timate the size of the lbian, gay and bisexual populatn and me up wh a larger number - 5-7% of the populatn. Gay people say they feel ls happy than their straight peersPeople who intify as gay, lbian and bisexual report lower levels of well-beg than heterosexuals the ONS looks at happs, life satisfactn, and the extent to which people feel their life is worthwhile.

For all three of those tegori, gay, lbian and bisexual people report much lower is also llected on anxiety, which has the biggt sexualy gap. Gay and lbian people report higher levels of anxiety than straight people, but bisexual people are even more likely to suffer om the lbian, gay and bisexual people are also more likely to suffer om suicidal thoughts than their straight iends, acrdg to a 2014 survey by LGBT support chary Metro. Same-sex upl have gaed equal marriage rightsCivil partnerships were legalised 2004 throughout the Uned Kgdom, wh the first ceremoni takg place at the end of the followg 140, 000 people entered to civil partnerships between 2005 and 2015, the last year for which figur are the UK, gay and lbian upl were granted many of the same rights as married heterosexuals, albe wh a few differenc around issu like private-sector meant that upl uld no longer be kept out of hospal rooms when their partner was sick, they would no longer lose their home or bs bee of tax laws, and they had parental rights over marriage was legalised a later, wh the first ceremoni takg place England, Wal and Stland 2014.

Gay marriage is now legal 22 untriEngland, Stland and Wal were far om the first plac to legalise same-sex marriage. The Netherlands changed the law first marriage is now legal 22 untri worldwi, acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA).