Timeline of UK LGBT Legislation

Timeline of UK LGBT Legislation

1500

1533 The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punysshement of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8 c. 6), made certain homosexual activity punishable by death in England. The Act was passed during the reign of Henry VIII, as part of a process of bringing activiites that had previously been covered by church law under the normal criminal law. It defined "buggery" as as "an unnatural sexual act against the will of God and man" but this was later clarified as referring to anal intercourse.

1800

The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 raised the age of consent for girls to 16. Section 11 of the Act, introduced late one evening by Henry Labouchere MP, and hence referred to as the Labouchere Amendment, made "gross indecency" between males a crime. Gross indecency was not defined, as it was thought immoral to actually specify in law what it meant, but in effect any sexual activity between men, in public or private, became a crime. In practice, the law was used broadly to prosecute male homosexuals where actual sodomy could not be proven. Lawyers dubbed Section 11 the "blackmailer's charter".

1900

1912 The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 was an Act of Parliament that was designed to clean up London’s streets, but also suppressed mens’ use of public space, it, in effect, banned cruising. It introduced the public order offence of “persistently importuning for an immoral purpose”.

1967 The Sexual Offences Act 1967 legalised sex between men in private, with an age of consent of 21. It did not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland, where gay sex was still illegal.

1980 Equivalent to The Sexual Offences Act 1967 happened in Scotland with the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, and in Northern Ireland two years later through the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982.

1994 The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 reduced the age of consent for sex between men to 18, and legalised anal sex between men and women, also with an age of consent of 18.

2000

2000 The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 introduced a common age of consent of 16 for both males and females, and for both heterosexual and homosexual acts.

2004 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 introduced civil partnerships in the United Kingdom. Civil partnership provides the same rights for same-sex couples under the law as marriage, but the ceremony cannot contain any religious content or be held in a place of worship.