Homosexuality Law

• Homosexuality Law:

  • Any sexual activity between men was made illegal in 1885 with prison sentences being handed out.
  • By 1954, 1000 meet were in prison for homosexuality.
• Decriminalisation:

  • Sir John Wolfenden reviewed the laws against gay men and produced the Wolfenden Report
  • This and groups like the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) led to homosexuality being decriminalised for over 21’s in 1967
• Changing Values and Attitudes:

  • Individualism is the growing view that consenting individuals can choose who to have a relationship with.
  • The 2010 Equality Act contains LGBTQ+ as protected characteristics
  • Secularisation, the decline in religious fundamentalism means less people believe in religious teaching which are anti-gay.
• Further Legal CHange:

  • 1994- Legal age of consent was made the same for homosexuals as heterosexuals
  • 2004- The 2004 gender recognition act allows people to change their legal gender
  • 2006- Civil partnerships for gay couples was introduced
  • 2013- Marriage act legalised marriage for homosexuals
  • According to statistics by Stonewall, 1 in 5 gay people and 2 in 5 trans people experience hate crime in the UK despite changing attitudes
  • Public attitudes continue to change and grow more accepting for LGBTQ+ people, helped greatly by modern media and celebrity presence.