X v the United Kingdom

X v the United Kingdom was a case heard by the European Commission of Human Rights in 1977. It was the first time that a complaint relating to homosexuality was ruled admissible, but even so it did not get as far as the Court.

X had been convicted and sent to prison for sex with an 18-year old men when he was 26, and complained that this constituted discrimination. The complaint was eventually rejected because of the suggestion that there was an element of coercion in the particular relationship.