Operation Spanner
Operation Spanner was a police investigation into same-sex male sadomasochism across the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. The investigation, led by the Obscene Publications Squad of the Metropolitan Police, began in 1987 and ran for three years, during which approximately 100 gay and bisexual men were questioned by police. The investigation culminated in a report naming 43 individuals, of whom the Director of Public Prosecutions chose to prosecute 16 men for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, unlawful wounding and other offences related to consensual, private sadomasochistic sex sessions held in various locations between 1978 and 1987. A resulting House of Lords judgement, ''R v Brown'', ruled that consent was not a valid legal defence for actual bodily harm in Britain. The case sparked a national conversation about the limits of consent and the role of government in sexual encounters between consenting adults. It also spawned two activist organisations dedicated to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Picket Outside The Old Bailey Following The Operation Spanner Judgement
Picket may refer to: * Snow picket, a climbing tool * Picket fence, a type of fence * Screw picket, a tethering device * Picket line, to tether horses *"Picket line" is also used in picketing, a form of protest **See also: " Crossing the picket line" * Picket (military), a soldier or small unit placed ahead of the main formation ** Radar picket, a radar equipped vehicle on picket duty * Picket boat, a small military boat * Picket (punishment), a 16th and 17th century military punishment * Picket, a fairy chess piece * The Flying Pickets, a British a cappella vocal group * Picket (climbing) Places * Picket Hill * Picket Piece * Picket Post, a road junction and service area in the New Forest National Park * Picket Range The Picket Range is a small, extremely rugged subrange of the North Cascades in the northwestern part of the American state of Washington. It is entirely contained within North Cascades National Park. It is about long, running northwest–south ..., a smal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Obscenity
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be used to indicate strong moral repugnance and outrage, in expressions such as "obscene profits" and "the obscenity of war". As a legal term, it usually refers to graphic depictions of people engaged in sexual and excretory activity, and related utterances of profane speech. United States obscenity law In the United States, issues of obscenity raise issues of limitations on the freedom of speech and of the press, which are otherwise protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Federal obscenity law in the U.S. is unusual in that there is no uniform national standard. Former Justice Potter Stewart of the Supreme Court of the United States, in attempting to classify what material constituted exactly "what is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gay Times
''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''Gay Times Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ media brand established in 1975. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company now includes content for the LGBTQ+ community across a number of outlets, including a monthly magazine, a website updated daily with news and culture content, and a number of social-media platforms. Publication and content ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' is published digitally each month in the United Kingdom and distributed globally, and includes interviews, fashion, news, features, music, film, style and travel. ''GAY TIMES'' also features an online site as well as social promotion channels under the brand name. The magazine is published by GAY TIMES Ltd. The current CEO of GAY TIMES Ltd. is Tag Warner, who was appointed in January 2019. The magazine ceased print publication in September 2021 and now releases a digital issue each month via the GAY TIMES app, Apple News+, Readly and ot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gross Indecency
Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration. The term was first used in British law in a statute of the British Parliament in 1885 and was carried forward in other statutes throughout the British Empire. The offence was never actually defined in any of the statutes which used it, which left the scope of the offence to be defined by court decisions. History The term ''gross indecency'' was first used in the Labouchere Amendment (section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885), which criminalized sexual acts between men, including those done in private. Gross indecency statutes consequently spread throughout the British Empire. Canada adopted the term in section 178 of the Criminal Code in 1892. The term was also used in the Criminal Code (sections 206 (1906, 1927), 149 (1953–1954), 157 (1970), 161 (1985)) as well as in the Criminal Law ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sexual Offences Act 1967
The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom (citation 1967 c. 60). It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained the age of 21. The law was extended to Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and to Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982. Background Homosexual activity between men had been illegal for centuries. There was never an explicit ban on homosexual activity between women. In the 1950s, there was an increase of prosecutions against homosexual men and several well-known figures had been convicted. The government set up a committee led by John Wolfenden to consider the laws on homosexuality. In 1957, the committee published the Wolfenden report, which recommended the decriminalisation of homosexual activity between men above the age of 21. The position was summarised by the committee as follows: "u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cruising For Sex
Cruising for sex, or cruising, is walking or driving about a locality, called a cruising ground, in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety. Published: 11-14-2007 Published: 9-21-2005 Article from NYT about a cruising area in New York City The term is also used when technology is used to find casual sex, such as using an Internet site or a telephone service. Origin and historical usage According to historian and author Tim Blanning, the term cruising originates from the Dutch equivalent ''kruisen''. In a specifically sexual context, the term "cruising" originally emerged as an argot "code word" in gay slang, by which those "in the know" would understand the speaker's unstated sexual intent, whereas most heterosexuals, on hearing the same word in the same context, would normally misread the speaker's intended meaning in the word's more common nonsexual sense. This served (and in some contexts, still serves) as a protective sociolinguistic mec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Bruinvels
Peter Nigel Edward Bruinvels (born 30 March 1950) is a governor of the Church Commissioners and former Conservative MP. Homophobia As an MP in 1986, Bruinvels was opposed to equal rights for the LGBT community and was a strong supporter of Section 28 saying: "I do not agree with homosexuality. I think that Clause 28 will help outlaw it and the rest will be done by AIDS, with a substantial number of homosexuals dying of AIDS. I think that's probably the best way." In 1997 as a member of the Church of England's General Synod, Bruinvels said he would be spearheading moves to stop the ordination of known homosexuals: "Bishops have a moral responsibility to safeguard marriage and family life and by ordaining known homosexuals, they are sending out the wrong signals." Bruinvels issued a statement in February 2022 apologizing for and repudiating his 1986 statements. Published in the Surrey County Council's staff newsletter, Bruinvels indicated how the years since 1986 had changed h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Local Government Act 1988
The United Kingdom Local Government Act 1988 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament. It was famous for its controversial section 28. This section prohibited local authorities from promoting, in a specified category of schools, "the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". The Act did have other effects also, and was rather a mixed bag of changes. Part I introduced compulsory tendering of contracts for certain types of activities. Part III allowed housing authorities to provide financial assistance to people living in private property. Section 38 abolished dog licences. See also *Direct service organisation *Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ... External links UK Legislation Commencement Orders * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Section 28
Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received Royal Assent, it had become Section 28. Section 28 is sometimes referred to as Clause 28 – in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament have sections, whereas in a Bill (which is put before Parliament to pass) those sections are called clauses. was a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, it was in effect from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales. It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student support groups to close, limit their activities or self-censor. The law is named after Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Young, Gay And Proud
''Young, Gay and Proud'' is a book written for adolescents who are exploring a gay identity, published by an autonomous collective of the Melbourne Gay Teachers and Students Group. A new USA-edition was released in 1980, edited by Sasha Alyson and Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher. The book has been banned by different public libraries. This book is based on a person called Jack Woodhouse. In 1987, the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government in the UK (under the rule of Margaret Thatcher) issued warning posters claiming that the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party was issuing this book to be read in schools, as well as ''Police: Out of School'', ''The Playbook for Kids About Sex'' (authored by Joani Blank), and ''The Milkman's on his Way'' (authored by David Rees (author), David Rees).Knight, Jill. Quoted in Hansard 6 December 1999, Column 1102. References External linksSchool Library Journal, 2006 *Publisher: Alyson Publications; 3rd edition (October 1991) LGBT literature in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the wartime coalition of 1940–1945, after which Clement Attlee's Labour government established the National Health Service and expanded the welfa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |