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

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	In England and Wales, Section 11 was repealed and re-enacted as Section 13 of the		In England and Wales, Section 11 was repealed and re-enacted as Section 13 of the
	[[Sexual Offences Act 1956]], which in turn was repealed by the [[Sexual Offences Act		[[Sexual Offences Act 1956]], which in turn was repealed by the [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]].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

LGBT-HP: Created page with "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..."

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Created page with "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..."

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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]]

Labouchere Amendment of 1885 - Revision history

LGBT-HP: Fix bare tag: MW 1.45.1 Cite requires self-closing

LGBT-HP at 20:19, 1 April 2026

LGBT-HP: Created page with "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..."