View source for Labouchere Amendment of 1885

The '''Labouchere Amendment''' was Section 11 of the [[Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885]], 
introduced by Liberal MP Henry Du Pré Labouchere (1831–1912) during a late-night 
parliamentary debate on 6 August 1885. It criminalised "gross indecency" between men 
in the United Kingdom — a deliberately vague term that in practice was used to prosecute 
any male homosexual behaviour short of sodomy, which remained a separate and more serious 
offence.

The amendment was passed in the early hours of 7 August 1885 with only a handful of MPs 
present. It was unrelated to the primary purpose of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which 
was concerned with the protection of women and girls and raised the age of consent from 
13 to 16. Labouchere introduced his amendment at the last minute at the report stage.

==The law==
The text of the amendment read:

''"Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission 
of, or procures, or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of 
gross indecency with another male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being 
convicted thereof, shall be liable at the discretion of the Court to be imprisoned for 
any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour."''

Crucially, gross indecency was never defined in the Act, leaving courts to interpret its 
meaning. This vagueness made the law extremely broad and difficult to challenge. Unlike 
the pre-existing law on sodomy, which required proof of a specific act, gross indecency 
could encompass almost any intimacy between men — including correspondence and 
association.

==Background and intent==
The true intention behind Labouchere's amendment has been debated by historians. Some 
have suggested he introduced it as a deliberate wrecking amendment — intending to make 
the broader Act appear so extreme that it would fail to pass. Others argue he was 
sincere in his desire to strengthen the law against male homosexuality. Whatever the 
intention, the amendment passed and became one of the most consequential pieces of 
legislation in British LGBT history.

The amendment was sometimes called the '''Blackmailer's Charter''' because its vague 
wording left gay men vulnerable to extortion — anyone could threaten to report them to 
the police, and countless thousands suffered in silence rather than risk exposure, 
prosecution, and public humiliation <ref>https://www.voicesandvisibility.org.uk/index/timeline/offence-of-gross-indecency-created/</ref>.

==Impact and prosecutions==
The effect of the law was immediate and far-reaching. In the roughly 80 years between 
its passage and partial decriminalisation in 1967, an estimated 100,000 men were 
prosecuted for gross indecency in the United Kingdom.

Most famously, [[Oscar Wilde]] was convicted under the amendment in 1895 and sentenced 
to two years' hard labour — a sentence widely considered to have contributed to his 
early death. [[Alan Turing]], the mathematician and wartime codebreaker, was convicted 
in 1952 and subjected to chemical castration as an alternative to prison; he died in 
1954.

The amendment also provided the legal context in which gay men developed coded languages 
and meeting places — including the use of the term [[queer]] as an in-group identifier, 
and venues such as [[Lyon's Corner House]] in London — as a means of finding one another 
while avoiding detection.

==Colonial legacy==
The amendment was exported to British colonies and territories around the world. Its 
legacy continues to be felt: as of 2025, approximately 35 Commonwealth countries retain 
laws criminalising homosexuality that derive directly or indirectly from the Labouchere 
Amendment <ref>https://www.voicesandvisibility.org.uk/index/timeline/offence-of-gross-indecency-created/</ref>.

==Repeal==
In England and Wales, Section 11 was repealed and re-enacted as Section 13 of the 
[[Sexual Offences Act 1956]], which in turn was repealed by the [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]]. 
The 1967 Act partially decriminalised male homosexual acts — but only in private, 
only between two men, and only if both were over 21. Full equalisation of the age of 
consent did not come until 2001.

Following the posthumous Royal Pardon of Alan Turing in 2013, the government announced 
in 2016 that men convicted of gross indecency for consensual private acts would receive 
pardons under what became known as the '''Alan Turing Law'''.

==See also==
* [[Oscar Wilde]]
* [[Alan Turing]]
* [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]]
* [[Queer]]
* [[Lyon's Corner House]]
* [[Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Legislation]]
[[Category:History]]