The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have varied over time.
Prior to the formal introduction of Christianity in Britain in 597 AD, when
Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.Delaney '' ...
arrived in Britain, the citizens might have been able to practice homosexuality through the Celtic, Roman and Anglo Saxon periods, though evidence is lacking: for example there are no surviving Celtic written records. Post 597 AD,
Christianity and homosexuality
Throughout the majority of Christian history, most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful. Today, within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexual ...
began to clash. Same-sex male sexual activity was characterised as "sinful" but not illegal. Under the
Buggery Act 1533
The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8 c. 6), was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII.
It was the country's first civil sodomy law, such offe ...
male anal sex was outlawed and made punishable by death. LGBT rights first came to prominence following the decriminalisation of sexual activity between men,
in 1967 in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
, and later in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. Sexual activity between women was never subject to the same legal restriction.
Since the turn of the 21st century,
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
rights have increasingly strengthened in support. Some discrimination protections had existed for LGBT people since 1999, but were extended to all areas under the
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
. A ban on LGBT individuals serving openly in
the armed forces was officially lifted in 2016, though a policy of non-enforcement had been in place since 2000. The
age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
was
equalised at 16, regardless of
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
, in 2001. Having been introduced in the 1980s,
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 ...
, which prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by schools and local authorities, was repealed in 2003. Transgender people have had the ability to apply to change their legal gender
since 2005. The same year, same-sex couples were granted the right to enter into a
civil partnership
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
, a similar legal structure to marriage, and also to
adopt
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
in England and Wales. Scotland later followed on adoption rights for same-sex couples in 2009, and Northern Ireland in 2013.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
was legalised in England and Wales, and Scotland in 2014, and in Northern Ireland in 2020.
In
ILGA-Europe
ILGA-Europe is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It is an advocacy group promoting the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, at the European level. I ...
's 2015 review of LGBTI rights, the UK received the highest score in Europe, with 86% progress toward "respect of human rights and full equality" for LGBT people and 92% in Scotland alone. However, by 2020, the UK had dropped to ninth place in the ILGA-Europe rankings with a score of 66% and the executive also expressed concern about a "hostile climate on
trans rights
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...
fuelled by opposition groups". Meanwhile, 86% of the UK agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, according to a 2019
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C.
It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
poll, and a 2017 poll showed that 77% of British people support same-sex marriage.
Around 2% of people identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual in a 2017 UK national survey, although
YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...
and
Stonewall
Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to:
* Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction
* Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics
* Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...
argue this is likely influenced by under-reporting, and estimate that the actual figure is between 5 and 7%.
[ The number of transgender people in the UK is estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000 (roughly 0.5%) as of 2018.][ ] LGBT rights organisations and very large LGBT communities have been built across the UK, most notably in Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, which is widely regarded as the UK's unofficial "gay capital", with other large communities in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
and Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
which all have gay villages
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
and host annual pride festivals
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events ...
.
Same-sex sexual activity
Homosexuality as an offence
English law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, be ...
identified anal sex
Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
as an offence punishable by hanging as a result of the Buggery Act 1533
The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8 c. 6), was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII.
It was the country's first civil sodomy law, such offe ...
, which was pioneered by Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. The Act was the country's first civil sodomy law, such offences having previously been dealt with by the ecclesiastical court
An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...
s. While it was repealed in 1553 on the accession of Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
, it was re-enacted in 1563 under Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
. James Pratt and John Smith
James Pratt (1805–1835), also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835) were two London men who, in November 1835, became the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.Cook ''et al'' (2007), p. 109. Pratt and Smith were arrested in ...
were the last two to be executed for sodomy in 1835.
Although section 61 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 removed the death penalty for homosexuality, male homosexual acts remained illegal and were punishable by imprisonment. The Labouchere Amendment
Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, commonly known as the Labouchere Amendment, made " gross indecency" a crime in the United Kingdom. In practice, the law was used broadly to prosecute male homosexuals where actual sodomy (meaning ...
, section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c.69), or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes," was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the lat ...
, extended the laws regarding homosexuality to include any homosexual act between males, even when there were no witnesses. This meant that people could be convicted for private acts, and often a letter between two people expressing affection was enough evidence to convict. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
was convicted under this law and sentenced to 2 years of penal labour. Conversely, lesbians were never acknowledged or targeted by legislation.
In Scotland, although there were no statutes making sex between men unlawful between 1424 and 1707, homosexual acts were punishable. One example is the commission for trial of Gavin Bell.
In the early 1950s, the police actively enforced laws prohibiting sexual behaviour between men. By the end of 1954, there were 1,069 homosexual men in prison in England and Wales, with an average age of 37. There were a number of high-profile arrests and trials, including that of scientist, mathematician, and war-time code-breaker Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
, convicted in 1952 of "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 Br ...
". He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration
Chemical castration is castration via anaphrodisiac drugs, whether to reduce libido and sexual activity, to treat cancer, or otherwise. Unlike surgical castration, where the gonads are removed through an incision in the body,[ ...]
) as an alternative to prison. Turing committed suicide in 1954. In 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
, in response to a petition, issued an apology on behalf of the British Government for "the appalling way he was treated". In 1954, the trial and eventual imprisonment of Edward Montagu (the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu), Michael Pitt-Rivers
Major Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (27 May 1917 – December 1999) was a West Country landowner who gained notoriety in Britain in the 1950s when he was put on trial charged with buggery. This trial was instrumental in bringing publ ...
and Peter Wildeblood
Peter Wildeblood (19 May 1923 – 14 November 1999) was an Anglo-Canadian journalist, novelist, playwright and gay rights campaigner. He was one of the first men in the UK publicly to declare his homosexuality.
Early life
Peter Wildeblood was ...
for committing acts of "homosexual indecency" caused uproar and led to the establishment of a committee to examine and report on the law covering "homosexual offences" appointed by Sir David Maxwell Fyfe and Sir Hugh Lucas-Tooth.
Wolfenden
The Wolfenden Committee was set up on 24 August 1954 to consider UK law relating to "homosexual offences"; the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report
The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee) was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957 after a suc ...
) was published on 3 September 1957. It recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence", finding that "homosexuality cannot legitimately be regarded as a disease, because in many cases it is the only symptom and is compatible with full mental health in other respects."
In October 1957, the Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961.
From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...
, spoke in support of the Wolfenden Report, saying that "There is a sacred realm of privacy... into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude. This is a principle of the utmost importance for the preservation of human freedom, self-respect, and responsibility." The first parliamentary debate on the Wolfenden Report was initiated on 4 December 1957 by Lord Pakenham
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
. Of the seventeen peers who spoke in the debate, eight broadly supported the recommendations in the Wolfenden Report. Maxwell Fyfe, by then ennobled as Lord Kilmuir and serving as Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, speaking for the Government, doubted that there would be much public support for implementing the recommendations and stated that further research was required. The Homosexual Law Reform Society
The Homosexual Law Reform Society was an organisation that campaigned in the United Kingdom for changes to the set of laws which criminalised homosexuality at the time.
History
In 1954 the Conservative government set up a Departmental Committe ...
was founded on 12 May 1958, mainly to campaign for the implementation of the Wolfenden Committee's recommendations.
Decriminalisation of homosexual acts
In 1965, Conservative peer Lord Arran proposed the decriminalisation of male homosexual acts (lesbian acts had never been illegal) in the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. This was followed by Humphry Berkeley
Humphry John Berkeley (21 February 192614 November 1994) was a British politician and author. He was noted for his three changes of parties and his early support for gay rights.
He is also remembered for a series of hoax letters he sent as fic ...
in the House of Commons a year later, though Berkeley ascribed his defeat in the 1966 general election to the unpopularity of this action. However, in the newly elected Parliament, Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP Leo Abse
Leopold Abse (22 April 1917 – 19 August 2008) was a Welsh lawyer and politician. He was a Welsh Labour MP for nearly 30 years, noted for promoting private member's bills to decriminalise male homosexual relations and liberalise the divorce la ...
took up the issue and the Sexual Offences Bill was put before Parliament in order to implement some of the Wolfenden Committee's recommendations after almost ten years of campaigning.
The 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 th ...
( cy, Deddf Troseddau Rhywiol 1967) was accordingly passed and received royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 27 July 1967 after an intense late-night debate in the House of Commons. It maintained general prohibitions on buggery and indecency
Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications.
Co ...
between men, but provided for a limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts where three conditions were fulfilled: 1) the act had to be consensual, 2) the act had to take place in private and 3) the act could involve only people that had attained the age of 21. This was a higher age of consent than that for heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
acts, which was set at 16. Further, "in private" limited participation in an act to two people. This condition was interpreted strictly by the courts, which took it to exclude acts taking place in a room in a hotel, for example, and in private homes where a third person was present (even if that person was in a different room). These restrictions were overturned by the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
in 2000.
The 1967 Act extended only to England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
. Organisations, therefore, continued to campaign for the goal of full equality in Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
where all homosexual behaviour remained illegal. Same-sex sexual activities were legalised in Scotland on the same basis as in the 1967 Act, by section 80 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980
The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom (citation 1980 c.62). It decriminalized private homosexual acts between two consenting adults in Scotland when it came into effect on 1 February 1981.
"Subjec ...
, which came into force on 1 February 1981. An analogous amendment was also made to the law of Northern Ireland, following the determination of a case by the European Court of Human Rights (see ''Dudgeon v. United Kingdom
''Dudgeon v the United Kingdom'' (1981) was a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case, which held that Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 which criminalised male homosexual acts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland violate ...
''); the relevant legislation was an Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...
, the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982
The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, No. 1536 (N.I. 19), is an Order in Council which decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in Northern Ireland. The Order was adopted as a result of a European Court of Human Rig ...
, which came into force on 8 December 1982.
Equal age of consent
In 1979, the Home Office Policy Advisory Committee's Working Party report, "Age of Consent in Relation to Sexual Offences", recommended that the age of consent for same-sex sexual activities be reduced from 21 to 18, but no such legislation was enacted as a result.
In February 1994, Parliament considered reform of the law on rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and other sexual offences during the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill. Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP Edwina Currie
Edwina Currie (' Cohen; born 13 October 1946) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician, serving as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire from 1983 until 1997. She was a Junior Health Minister for two year ...
proposed an amendment to equalise the age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
of same-sex sexual activities to 16. Currie's amendment was defeated by 307 votes to 280. Those who supported it included Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, John Smith, Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
, Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...
and William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
. Those against included Labour MPs David Blunkett
David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...
and Ann Taylor Ann or Anne Taylor may refer to:
*Ann Taylor (writer, born 1757) (1757–1830), English writer
*Ann Taylor (poet) (1782–1866), English poet and children's writer, daughter of the above
*Ann Taylor (actress) (born 1936), British actress, hostess a ...
. There were angry scenes outside the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
at the defeat of the amendment, when those involved in a demonstration organised by the group OutRage!
OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and ...
clashed with police. Another amendment proposed by Sir Anthony Durant
Sir Robert Anthony Bevis Durant (9 January 1928 – 18 February 2016), also known as Tony Durant, was a British Conservative Party politician.
Political career
Durant stood unsuccessfully for Rother Valley at the 1970 General Election; the s ...
suggested lowering the age of consent to 18, which passed by 427 votes to 162, and Tory supporters included Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...
and John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
. It was opposed by such MPs as John Redwood
Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major government ...
, Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served a ...
and John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords. He was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 ...
. An amendment proposed by Simon Hughes
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...
which was intended to equalise the age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals to 17 was not voted upon. The bill as a whole was given a second reading in the Lords by 290 votes to 247. Lord Longford
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
then sought to reintroduce 21 as the minimum age in the Lords, but this was defeated by 176 votes to 113. An amendment by the Deputy Labour Leader in the House of Lords, Lord MacIntosh of Haringey, that would have equalised the age of consent to 16, was rejected by 245 votes to 71.
In its decision of 1 July 1997, in the case of ''Sutherland v. United Kingdom
''Sutherland v United Kingdom'' originated as a complaint by Mr Euan Sutherland to the European Commission of Human Rights that the fixing of the minimum age for lawful homosexual activities at 18 rather than 16, as for heterosexual activities, v ...
'', the European Commission of Human Rights
The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe.
From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Hu ...
found that Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
were violated by a discriminatory age of consent, on the ground that there was no objective and reasonable justification for maintaining a higher minimum age for male homosexual acts. On 13 October 1997, the Government submitted to the European Court of Human Rights that it would propose a bill to Parliament for a reduction of the age of consent for homosexual acts from 18 to 16. On 22 June 1998, the Crime and Disorder Bill was put before Parliament. Ann Keen
Ann Lloyd Keen (''née'' Fox; born 26 November 1948) is a British Labour Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997, until she was defeated by Conservative candidate Mary Macleod in 2010. I ...
proposed amendments to lower the age of consent to 16. The House of Commons accepted these provisions with a majority of 207, but they were rejected by the House of Lords with a majority of 168. Subsequently, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill was introduced on 16 December 1998 and, again, the equalisation of the age of consent was endorsed on 25 January 1999 by the House of Commons, but was rejected on 14 April 1999 by the House of Lords. Those campaigning against the amendment claimed they were simply acting to protect children. Baroness Young, the leader of the campaign against the amendment, said, "Homosexual practices carry great health risks to young people."
The Government reintroduced the bill in 1999. With the prospect of it being passed by the Commons in two successive sessions of Parliament, the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 are two Act of Parliament, Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form part of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Section 2(2) of the Parliament Act 1949 provides that the two Acts are to be St ...
were available to enact the bill should the Lords have rejected it a third time. The Lords passed the bill at second reading, but made an amendment during committee stage to maintain the age of consent for buggery at 18 for both sexes. However, as the bill had not completed its passage through the Lords at the end of the parliamentary session on 30 November 2000, then Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
Michael Martin certified that the procedure specified by the Parliament Acts had been complied with. The bill received royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
a few hours later, and was enacted as the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000
The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 (c.44) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the age of consent for male homosexual sexual activities (including anal sex) from 18 (or for some activities, 21) ...
. The provisions of the Act came into force throughout the UK on 8 January 2001, lowering the age of consent to 16. This Act also introduced, for the first time, an age of consent for lesbian sexual acts, as previously there had been no legislation concerning this.
On 1 May 2004, the Sexual Offences Act 2003
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It partly replaced the Sexual Offences Act 1956 with more specific and explicit wording. It also created several new offences such as non-consensual voyeuris ...
entered into force, which swept away all of the previous sex-specific legislation, including the 1967 Act, and introduced instead neutral offences. Thus, the previous conditions relating to privacy were removed, and sexual acts were viewed by the law without regard to the sex of the participants.
With the passage of the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008
The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 provides a legislative framework for sexual offences in Northern Ireland. The corresponding legislation in England and Wales and in Scotland are the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Sexual Offence ...
, Northern Ireland, which had an age of consent of 17 regardless of one's sexual orientation, lowered the age to 16 in 2009 so it would match that of England, Wales, and Scotland.
Annulment of convictions
On 31 January 2017, the Policing and Crime Act 2017
The Policing and Crime Act 2017 (c. 3) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 31 January 2017.
Synopsis
The act enacts various changes to existing rules involving PCCs, complaints through the IPCC, amendm ...
went into effect after being given royal assent. A section of the Act known as the Alan Turing law
The "Alan Turing law" is an informal term for the law in the United Kingdom, contained in the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which serves as an amnesty law to pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawe ...
officially gave posthumous pardons to the thousands of homosexual men from England and Wales who had been convicted under those regions' old sodomy laws, and gave those still living the possibility to apply to have their conviction erased. Disregards have been available since 2012, removing the conviction from the person's criminal records. Scotland passed a more comprehensive law in June 2018, with pardons being automatic for those still living. The Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral
, hou ...
passed a similar law in 2016, with it taking effect on 28 June 2018. Applications for pardons must be made with the Northern Irish Department of Justice.
According to ''PinkNews
''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005.
It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights aro ...
'', fewer than 200 pardons had been issued in England and Wales by July 2018.
In June 2019, it was revealed that only two men had sought pardons for historic gay sex offences in Northern Ireland and that they both failed to have their convictions overturned. Across the UK, over half of those who applied for a pardon did not have their convictions overturned.
In January 2022, it was reported that all same-sex criminal convictions in the past across the UK are to be "formally fully pardoned immediately" by the government under a new scheme.
Merchant shipping repeal
In April 2017, the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
passed the Merchant Shipping (Homosexual Conduct) Act 2017. This private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
was drafted by Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP John Glen. It repealed sections 146(4) and 147(3) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights, clamping down on unlicensed ...
, which was labelled as the UK's "last anti-gay law". It went into effect immediately after royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Civil partnership
There was no legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Britain until 2005, following the legalisation of civil partnerships
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
under the passage of the Civil Partnership Act 2004
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Labour government, which grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom the rights and responsibilities very similar to those in civil ...
( cy, Deddf Partneriaeth Sifil 2004; gd, Achd Com-pàirteachasan Sìobhalta 2004) on 18 November 2004. Civil partnerships are a separate union which give most (but not all) of the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage, but there are recognition issues in other countries and with the use of courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some co ...
s. Civil partnerships can take place on any approved premise in the UK and in approved religious venues in England and Wales since 2011 (though religious venues are not compelled), but cannot include religious readings, music or symbols. The ''Civil Partnership Act'' came into effect on 5 December 2005.
The first civil partnership ceremony took place at 11:00 (GMT) on 5 December 2005 between Matthew Roche and Christopher Cramp at St Barnabas Hospice, Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
, West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
. The usual 14-day waiting period was waived as Roche was suffering from a terminal illness. He died the next day. The first civil partnership ceremonies after the statutory waiting period then took place in Northern Ireland on 19 December, with ceremonies following the next day in Scotland and the day after that in England and Wales.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom
Same-sex marriage is legal in all parts of the United Kingdom. As marriage is a devolved legislative matter, different parts of the UK legalised at different times; it has been recognised and performed in England and Wales since March 2014, in ...
has been the subject of wide debate since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain. Previous legislation in England and Wales had prevented same-sex marriage, including the Marriage Act 1949
The Marriage Act 1949 (12, 13 & 14 Geo 6 c 76) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulating marriages in England and Wales.
The Act had prohibited solemnizing marriages during evenings and at night. Since the Marriage Act 1836 i ...
which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, the Nullity of Marriage Act 1971
The Nullity of Marriage Act 1971 was an act that defined valid reasons for annulment according to British law. This act was the first time in British law that marriage was explicitly defined by statute as being between a male and a female. A marri ...
which explicitly banned same-sex marriages, and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c 18) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom governing divorce law and marriage in England and Wales.
Contents
The act contains four parts:
# Divorce, Nullity and Other Matrimonial Suits
# Financial Reli ...
which reiterated the provisions of the Nullity of Marriage Act.
While civil partnerships were established nationwide, marriage law is a devolved matter in the United Kingdom and therefore the legislative procedure of same-sex marriage differs by jurisdiction. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Background
Civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2004, allowi ...
, which allows same-sex marriage in England and Wales, was passed by the UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...
in July 2013 and came into force on 13 March 2014, with the first same-sex marriages taking place on 29 March 2014. The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 (asp 5) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which allows same-sex couples to marry in Scotland since 16 December 2014.
The bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 26 June 2013 b ...
, allowing same-sex marriage in Scotland, was passed by the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
in February 2014 and came into effect on 16 December 2014.
Same-sex marriages in the UK give all the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage and can be performed on approved premises. This also includes religious venues, providing the religious or belief body has opted-in. However, no religious or belief body is compelled to perform same-sex marriages; the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and the Church in Wales
The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.
The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...
are explicitly banned from doing so. For the purposes of the divorce of a same-sex marriage, the common law definition of adultery remains as sexual intercourse between a man and a woman only, although infidelity with a person of the same sex can be grounds for a divorce as "unreasonable behaviour." Non-consummation
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage t ...
is also excluded as a ground for the annulment of a same-sex marriage.
Between 2012 and 2015, the Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral
, hou ...
voted five times on same-sex marriage, and although it was passed by a slim majority on the fifth attempt, it was vetoed by the Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
using the petition of concern. Following the inconclusive 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election and failure to form a Northern Ireland Executive by the deadline of 21 October 2019, provisions in the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, which was passed by the UK Parliament on 18 July 2019 and received royal assent on 24 July, mandated the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to pass regulations legalising same-sex marriage by 13 January 2020. The Secretary of State, Julian Smith (politician), Julian Smith signed the regulations on 19 December 2019. Same-sex marriage therefore became legal in Northern Ireland on 13 January 2020, with couples free to register their intent to marry and couples who had previously married elsewhere having their unions recognised from that date. The first same-sex marriage ceremony took place in Carrickfergus on 11 February 2020.
Religious same-sex marriages
On March 2011, the Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom), Liberal Judaism movement became the first Jewish movement in the UK to recognise same-sex marriage as fully equal to that of heterosexual couples.
On 30 June 2021, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, Methodist Church voted 254 to 46 in favour of changing the definition of marriage to allow same-sex marriage, thus becoming the largest religious denomination in Britain to permit same-sex marriages.
In September 2021, the Church in Wales
The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.
The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...
voted to "formally bless same-sex couples" (by way of debate and compromise) - but not legally recognising same-sex marriage within titles of the Church officially.
Adoption and family planning
Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 Parliament provided that an application to adopt a child in England and Wales could be made by either a single person or a couple. The previous condition that the couple be married was dropped, thus allowing a same-sex couple to apply. The Lords rejected the proposal on one occasion before it was passed. Supporters of the move in Parliament stressed that adoption was not a "gay rights" issue but one of providing as many children as possible with a stable family environment rather than seeing them kept in care. Opponents raised doubts over the stability of relationships outside marriage, and how instability would impact on the welfare of adopted children. However, the law was successfully passed and went into effect on 30 December 2005. Similar legislation was adopted in Scotland, which came into effect on 28 September 2009. Northern Ireland followed suit in December 2013.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 was given royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 13 November 2008. The legislation allows for lesbians and their partners (both civil and ''de facto'') equal access to legal presumptions of parentage in cases of ''in vitro'' fertilisation (IVF) or assisted/self insemination (other than at home) from the moment the child is born. The law also allows both partners to be identified on the child's birth certificate by the words "parent".
The law came into force on 6 April 2009 and is not retroactive (it does not apply before that date). On 6 April 2010 Parental orders for gay men and their partners came into force. A Parental Order is an order issued by the Court to the intended parents of a surrogate child which extinguishes the legal parenthood of the surrogate mother and, if she has one, her partner and reassigns legal parenthood and parental responsibility to the intended parents.
Since 31 August 2009, legislation granting lesbians equal birth rights in England and Wales came into effect, meaning both can now be named on a child's birth certificate, amending the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987. The legislation was criticised by those who believe it was "damaging the traditional notion of a family". Stonewall
Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to:
* Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction
* Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics
* Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...
Head of Policy and Research Ruth Hunt said the new law makes life easier for lesbian families and stated "Now lesbian couples in the UK who make a considered decision to start a loving family will finally be afforded equal access to services they help fund as taxpayers". Home Office Minister William Brett, Baron Brett, Lord Brett was full of praise in his comments: This positive change means that, for the first time, female couples who have a child using fertility treatment have the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts to be shown as parents in the birth registration. It is vital that we afford equality wherever we can in society, especially as family circumstances continue to change. This is an important step forward in that process.
Iain Duncan Smith, who led efforts to oppose the change, said that "The absence of fathers generally has a detrimental effect on the child."
In 2016, 9.6% of all adoptions in England involved same-sex couples, an increase from 8.4% in 2015. In 2018, 450 of the 3,820 adoptions in England (approximately 12%) involved same-sex couples.
NHS UK lawsuit
In November 2021, a lesbian couple launched a judicial review against Frimley National Health Service, NHS Clinical commissioning group over a "discriminatory" fertility policy. The majority of heterosexual couples are only required to "try to conceive" for 2 years before becoming eligible for NHS-funded treatment, whilst same-sex female couples are required to undergo 12 rounds of private IVF treatment before becoming eligible.
Transgender rights
In December 2002, the Lord Chancellor's office published a "Government Policy Concerning Transsexual People" document that categorically states that transsexualism "is not a mental illness."
Since 4 April 2005, as per the Gender Recognition Act 2004 ( cy, Deddf Cydnabod Rhywedd 2004; gd, Achd Aithneachadh Gnè 2004), it has been possible for transgender people to change their legal gender in the UK, allowing them to acquire a new birth certificate, affording them full recognition of their acquired sex in law for all purposes. Transgender people must present evidence to a Gender Recognition Panel, which considers their case and issues a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC); they must have transitioning (transgender), transitioned two years before a GRC is issued. It is not a requirement for sex reassignment surgery to have taken place, although such surgery will be accepted as part of the supporting evidence for a case where it has taken place. There is formal approval of medical gender reassignment available either on the National Health Service (NHS) or privately.
However, there have been concerns regarding marriages and civil partnerships. Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, transgender people who are married have been required to divorce or annul their marriage in order for them to be issued with a GRC. The Government chose to retain this requirement in the Act as effectively it would have legalised a small category of same-sex marriages. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 allowed the creation of civil partnerships between same-sex couples, but a married couple that includes a transgender partner cannot simply re-register their new status. They must first have their marriage dissolved, gain legal recognition of the new gender and then register for a civil partnership. This is like any divorce with the associated paperwork and costs.
With the legalisation of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, existing marriages will continue where one or both parties change their legal gender and both parties wish to remain married. The legislation also does not restore any of the marriages of transgender people that were forcibly annulled as a precondition for them securing a GRC and states that a GRC will not be issued unless the spouse of the transgender person has consented. If the spouse does not consent, the marriage must be terminated before a GRC may be issued.
Since 1 January 2021, UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom explicitly includes "gender reassignment" (alongside race, disability, religion, sex and sexual orientation) within its hate speech legal policies and procedures.
In April 2021, it was reported that the fee for a Gender Recognition Certificate would be reduced to £5 in early May 2021.
In September 2021, a report from the Council of Europe on anti-LGBTI sentiment in Europe described anti-trans rhetoric in the United Kingdom as having gained "baseless and concerning credibility, at the expense of both trans people's civil liberties and women's and children's rights", citing an increase in anti-trans hate crimes since 2015 and statements made at the 2021 IDAHOT forum by Minister of Equalities, Kemi Badenoch.
Transgender youth
Transgender youth are equally covered by the Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
, and therefore protected from discrimination as with adult trans people. Children who wish to medically transition are referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service, the only gender identity clinic for people under eighteen in the UK. There, no surgical options are available for transition, per National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. In October 2019, the service was subject to a legal case, ''Bell v Tavistock'', and in December 2020 the High Court of Justice ruled that children under 16 cannot independently consent to the use of puberty blockers. This was widely condemned by LGBT rights groups, such as Stonewall (charity), Stonewall, The Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations UK, The Consortium and Mermaids (charity), Mermaids, as well as human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Liberty (advocacy group), Liberty. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health issued a statement hoping for further clarity, and leave to appeal was granted in January 2021. This appeal was successful, with the original ruling being overturned in September 2021. In September 2020, the NHS launched a review of gender identity services for young people, which as of July 2021 is still ongoing.
Single-sex education institutions
In January 2022, it was reported that single-sex education institutions could potentially "completely lose UK government funding and grants altogether" - if they enrolled admissions of any transgender or intersex pupils and students under the UK-wide Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
.
Rugby England policy
In July 2022, Rugby England formally announced a policy that bans transgender individuals playing rugby on biological female teams for under 12s.
British Airways
From 14 November 2022 individuals can wear makeup, uniforms and earrings under a new employee policy implementation by British Airways under jobs and/or careers. Also equal opportunity policies was also immediately extended to - "gender, gender identity and sexual identity" throughout British Airways airspace.
Intersex rights
Intersex people in the United Kingdom face significant gaps, particularly in protection from non-consensual medical interventions, and protection from discrimination. Actions by Intersex civil society organizations, intersex organisations aim to eliminate unnecessary medical interventions and harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality in line with Council of Europe and United Nations demands. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 does not allow a person to legally identify as anything other than male or female.
Passports court case
In December 2021, an individual lost in the UK high court for the UK government to introduce a gender X option on UK passports. The case is awaiting an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
in Strasbourg, France, Strasbourg. Both Denmark and Malta in Europe have gender X options on their passports recognised and implemented.
Discrimination protections
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Regulations were introduced for discrimination protections on sexual orientation in employment on 1 December 2003, following the adoption of Directive establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, an EC Directive in 2000, providing for the prohibition of discrimination in employment on the grounds of sexual orientation. The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 created certain legal protections for transgender people for the first time in British history. The Regulations banned discrimination against individuals undergoing "gender reassignment" in employment and vocational training. Similar legislation, the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, was passed in Northern Ireland. The Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations 2008 extended these protections to cover discrimination in goods, facilities and services
On 30 April 2007, the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, Sexual Orientation Regulations came into force, following the introduction of similar provisions in Northern Ireland in January 2007. They provided a general prohibition of discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation. Similar legislation had long previously been in force in respect of discrimination on the grounds of Sex Discrimination Act 1975, sex, Race Relations Act 1976, race, Disability Discrimination Act 1995, disability and marital status. The introduction of the Regulations was controversial and a dispute arose between the Government and the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales over exemptions for Catholic adoption agencies.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham declared his opposition to the Act, saying that the legislation contradicted the Catholic Church's moral values. Several Catholic adoption agencies requested exemption from sexual orientation regulations, and the adoption charity Catholic Care obtained a judgement on 17 March 2010 instructing the Charity Commission to reconsider its case. The Charity Commission again found no grounds to make an exception for Catholic Care, a decision upheld on appeal. In August 2011, the Upper Tribunal agreed to hear the charity's fourth appeal in the case. In November 2012, the appeal was dismissed by the Upper Tribunal, with the Tribunal ruling in favour of the Charity Commission. Catholic Care stated its intention to appeal the judgement.
In October 2007, the Government announced that it would seek to introduce an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act to create a new offence of incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. This followed the creation of an offence on religious hatred that had proved controversial in 2006 (see Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006). Incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation was already illegal in Northern Ireland. Scotland enacted similar legislation in 2009, which also includes gender identity as a protected ground.
The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
( cy, Deddf Cydraddoldeb 2010; gd, Achd na Co-ionannachd 2010; kw, Reyth Parder 2010) received royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 8 April 2010. The primary purpose of the Act was to codify the complicated and numerous array of Acts and Regulations, which formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in the UK including the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting discrimination in employment on grounds of Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, religion or belief, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, sexual orientation and Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, age. This legislation has the same goals as the US Civil Rights Act 1964'and four major European Union, EU equal treatment directives, whose provisions it mirrors and implements. It requires equal treatment in access to employment as well as private and public services, regardless of gender, Race (classification of human beings), race, disability, sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
, Transgender, transgender status, belief and age. The Act amended the Approved Premises (Marriage and Civil Partnership) Regulations 2005 to allow civil partnership ceremonies on religious premises in England and Wales. It also extended transgender rights, banning discrimination by schools on the grounds of gender reassignment.
Other initiatives have included the establishment of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights on 1 October 2007 which is tasked with working for equality in all areas and replaced the previous commissions dedicated to sex, race and disability alone; the setting up of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Advisory Group within the Department of Health; a provision of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that a court must treat hostility based on sexual orientation as an aggravating factor for sentencing a person; guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service on dealing with homophobic crimes; and a commitment from the Government to work for LGBT rights at an international level.
Section 28
The 1980s saw a setback for LGBT rights. The availability in the library, libraries of schools run by the Inner London Education Authority of a book considered by some to "promote" homosexuality led to protests and a campaign for new legislation. Consequently, the Local Government Act 1988 included a provision prohibiting "the intentional promotion of homosexuality" by any Local government in the United Kingdom, local authority and "the teaching in any state school, maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." The provision was known as 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 ...
, and amended section 2A of the earlier Local Government Act 1986. Changes in the structure of local government since that date led to some confusion over the precise circumstances in which the new law applied, including the question of whether or not it applied at all in state schools.
Section 28 (called Section 2A in Scotland) was repealed in Scotland within the first two years of the existence of the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
, by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. A move to remove the provision in England and Wales was prevented following opposition in the House of Lords, led by Baroness Young. Following her death in 2002, it was repealed by the Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Government in the Local Government Act 2003, which took effect on 18 November 2003. During the passage of the bill, no attempt was made to retain the section and an amendment seeking to preserve it using ballots was defeated in the House of Lords. In June 2009, David Cameron, Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Party Leader, formally apologised for his party introducing the law, stating that it was a mistake and offensive to gay people.
Public Order Act 1986
Section 29AB of the Public Order Act 1986 states:
:In this Part "hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation" means hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both)
Section 29JA, titled "Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)", of the Act states the following:
:(1) In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.
:(2) In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, any discussion or criticism of marriage which concerns the sex of the parties to marriage shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.
Homophobic chanting at football matches
In July 2020, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced they wished to amend the Football (Offences) Act 1991 to explicitly ban homophobic chanting at football matches. Currently, those accused of homophobic chanting are prosecuted for "indecent" chanting.
An earlier effort was made in 2018 to ban homophobic chanting by Damian Collins, at the time chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and former Wales rugby player Gareth Thomas (rugby), Gareth Thomas.
Bias-motivated violence and abuse
Recorded reports of homophobic abuse in the UK increased from 5,807 in 2014–15 to 13,530 in 2018–19. The number of prosecutions fell from 1,157 to 1,058, which the National Police Chiefs' Council attributed to many cases with a lack of witnesses and evidence, including whether the assault was motivated by the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity or not. "Many of these non-violent offences present less evidential opportunities and victims often feel that there is a barrier between bringing the matter to court and prefer to make police aware of each offence", said a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Service. North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire saw their reports increase from 172 to 961 and 73 to 375, respectively. The West Yorkshire Police said this increase was in part due to "improvements in the way we record crime and the fact that many victims have the confidence to come forward".
In 2019, the Ministry of Justice revealed that 11 transgender prisoners were sexually assaulted in prisons in England and Wales.
Military service
LGBT people have been allowed to serve openly in British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Armed Forces since 2000, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been forbidden since 2010. It is also forbidden for someone to pressure LGBT people to Coming out, come out. All personnel are subject to the same rules against intolerance, bullying and sexual harassment, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. The British military also recognises civil partnerships and grants same-sex couples the same rights to allowances and housing as opposite-sex couples.
The British military actively recruits LGBT people and have deployed recruiting teams to many Pride events: the Royal Navy advertises for recruits in gay magazines and has allowed gay sailors to hold civil partnership ceremonies on board ships and, since 2006, to march in full naval uniform at gay pride marches; British Army and Royal Air Force personnel could march but had to wear civilian clothes until 2008, now all military personnel are permitted to attend such marches in uniform.
The current policy was accepted at the lower ranks first, with many senior officers worrying for their troops without a modern acceptance of homosexuality that their personnel had grown up with. One Brigadier resigned but with little impact. Since the change, support at the senior level has grown. General Sir Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the General Staff (head of the Army), told members of the Army-sponsored Fourth Joint Conference on LGBT Matters that homosexuals were welcome to serve in the Army. In a speech to the conference in 2008, the first of its kind by any Army chief, General Sir Richard said that respect for LGBT officers and soldiers was now "a command responsibility" and was vital for "operational effectiveness."
The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy now require all recruits to undergo Equality and Diversity training as part of their Military Annual Training Tests and stress tolerance, specifically citing homosexual examples in training videos, in line with Army, Navy and RAF Core Values and Standards, including "Respect for Others" and "Appropriate Behaviour."
In 2009, on the tenth anniversary of the change of law that permitted homosexuality in the Armed Forces, newspapers reported that the lifting of the ban had no perceivable impact on the operational effectiveness on the military. The anniversary was widely celebrated, including in the Army's in-house publication ''Soldier Magazine'', with a series of articles including the July 2009 cover story and newspapers articles.
In 2015, following the fifteenth anniversary, the Ministry of Defence announced changes to its monitoring process for new recruits and added sexuality to their equal opportunities monitoring process.
Military pardons
In February 2021, the Ministry of Defence introduced the Armed Forces Bill 2021 that automatically pardons all gay sex criminal records within the UK military. It was also announced that military personnel dismissed on grounds of homosexuality will be able to have their service medals restored if they had been taken away.
Conversion therapy
Peel, Clarke and Drescher wrote in 2007 that only one organisation in Britain could be identified with conversion therapy, a religious organisation called "The Freedom Trust"[This is presumably a reference to True Freedom Trust which appears to have dissociated itself from Exodus and conversion therapy in 2000.] (part of Exodus International): "whereas a number of organisations in the US (both religious and scientific/psychological) promote conversion therapy, there is only one in the UK of which we are aware". The paper reported that practitioners who did provide these sorts of treatments between the 1950s and 1970s now view homosexuality as healthy, and the evidence suggests that 'conversion therapy' is a historical rather than a contemporary phenomenon in Britain, where treatment for homosexuality has always been less common than in the US.
In 2007, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in Britain, issued a report stating that: "Evidence shows that LGBT people are open to seeking help for mental health problems. However, they may be misunderstood by therapists who regard their homosexuality as the root cause of any presenting problem such as depression or anxiety. Unfortunately, therapists who behave in this way are likely to cause considerable distress. A small minority of therapists will even go so far as to attempt to change their client's sexual orientation. This can be deeply damaging. Although there are now a number of therapists and organisations in the USA and in the UK that claim that therapy can help homosexuals to become heterosexual, there is no evidence that such change is possible."
In 2008, the Royal College of Psychiatrists stated: "The Royal College shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) in the United States are not supported by science. There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Furthermore so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
In 2009, a research survey into mental health practitioners in the United Kingdom concluded that "a significant minority of mental health professionals are attempting to help lesbian, gay and bisexual clients to become heterosexual. Given lack of evidence for the efficacy of such treatments, this is likely to be unwise or even harmful." ''Scientific American'' reported on this: "One in 25 British psychiatrists and psychologists say they would be willing to help homosexual and bisexual patients try to convert to heterosexuality, even though there is no compelling scientific evidence a person can willfully become straight", and explained that 17% of those surveyed said they had tried to help reduce or suppress homosexual feelings, and 4% said they would try to help homosexual people convert to heterosexuality in the future.
Conversion therapy in the UK has been described by the BBC as "a fiercely contested topic" and part of a larger "culture war" within the UK. In July 2017, the Church of England's General Synod passed a motion which criticised conversion therapy as "unethical, potentially harmful and having no place in the modern world" and called for "a ban on the practice of conversion therapy aimed at altering sexual orientation." In February 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding which had been issued by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) in October 2017 to provide "protection of the public through a commitment to ending the practice of 'conversion therapy' in the UK" was approved by the National Health Service (England), National Health Service (NHS). Stonewall (charity), Stonewall has stated that all major counselling and psychotherapy bodies in the UK have joined the NHS in signing the Memorandum condemning conversion therapy.
In October 2017, a church in Anfield in Liverpool was exposed by a Liverpool Echo investigation for offering to "cure" gay people through a three-day starvation programme. Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP Dan Carden raised the issue in Parliament, calling for a legislative ban on conversion therapies, which "have no place in 21st Century Britain".
In March 2018, a majority of representatives in the European Parliament passed a resolution in a 435–109 vote condemning conversion therapy and urging European Union member states to ban the practice. A report released by the European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights stated that the UK was one of a few areas in the EU which "explicitly banned LGBTI conversion therapies." In July 2018, the UK Government announced as part of their LGBT Action Plan that they will "bring forward proposals" to ban conversion therapy at the legislative level. In a 2018 survey of LGBT people commissioned by the Government, 5 per cent of respondents said they had been offered therapy, with 2 per cent saying they had undergone it.
On 20 July 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his support for banning conversion therapy throughout the UK, stating "On the gay conversion therapy thing, I think that's absolutely abhorrent. It has no place in civilized society. It has no place in this country."
In September 2020, religious leaders from every major faith came together in ‘a rare show of unity’ to urge the UK government to legislate a ban on conversion therapy.
In February 2021, LGBT actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry called upon the UK government to "stop dithering" and ban conversion therapy.
On 11 May 2021, as part of the 2021 State Opening of Parliament, State Opening of Parliament, Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth stated that the UK planned to ban conversion therapy. In her 10-minute Speech from the throne, Queen's Speech, which is prepared by the UK Government, she stated that "measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities and ban conversion therapy." However, the Government's plans involve a consultation before any ban is put in place, which led to criticism by campaigners including Stonewall (charity), Stonewall that such delay leaves LGBT groups "at further risk of abuse." This delay will further extend the current three year wait from when the government first pledged to ban conversion therapy in 2018 and four years since multiple health organisations and patient groups signed a document in 2017 warning all forms of conversion therapy were "unethical and potentially harmful".
On 1 July 2021, it was reported that the UK Methodist Church canon law legally bans conversion therapy and also called upon the UK government to legally ban conversion therapy.
In October 2021, the government began a six week consultation on how to end conversion therapy, described as "an attempt to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation or gender identity". Minister Liz Truss said "There should be no place for the abhorrent practice of coercive conversion therapy in our society." In December 2021, the government extended the consultation by eight weeks, following criticism and the threat of legal action by the gender-critical group Fair Play For Women, Fair Play for Women. Critics of the proposed legislation say it could criminalise the act of helping someone with gender dysphoria to feel at ease with their birth sex. Nikki Da Costa, former Special adviser (UK), special adviser to Boris Johnson, said the timing of the consultation was "driven" by an intent to "get a good new story" ahead of an LGBTQ conference in 2022. Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall (charity), Stonewall, described conversion therapy as "abhorrent" and welcomed the extension.
In late March 2022, the UK Government announced its intention to ban conversion therapy for sexual orientation but not for transgender people, despite previously describing all conversion therapy as "abhorrent". As a result, over 100 organisations pulled out of a planned Government-backed equality conference, which was subsequently abandoned. Johnson defended his decision, citing "complexities and sensitivities" regarding gender conversion therapy, with particular attention given to children with gender dysphoria whose parents and counsellors might wish to openly discuss gender without fear of prosecution.
On 10 May 2022, the 2022 State Opening of Parliament, Queen's speech included an announcement of legislation within the coming Parliamentary session to ban conversion therapy within the UK for sexual orientation.
Sex education
The Public Sector Equality Duty provision of the Equality Act 2010 requires that information regarding bullying based on, among other things, LGBT identity be published and that solutions be found concerning how to counter this issue. The first information regarding schools and pupils located in England and English-governed public authorities in Scotland and Wales were published on 6 April 2012. In 2013, Ofsted published guidelines concerning how to counter homophobic and transphobic bullying at schools in England. Part of these guidelines included sex and relationships education for LGBT pupils.
On 12 February 2018, the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
's Education Office published a policy endorsing sex education which includes, among other things, LGBT education. Concerning sexuality, the policy states "sex education should include an understanding that all humans are sexual beings and that sexual desire is natural. Pupils should be taught that humans express their sexuality differently and that there is diversity in sexual desire". The policy also states that "pupils must be allowed to explore questions of identity and how we value our own identity and the uniqueness of other people. PSHE [Personal, Social, Health and Economic education] must help pupils recognise their true identity, and teach them that our media-framed, market-driven culture that often leads to body image anxiety can be challenged. This issue is the focus of the Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester's #liedentity campaign which aims to challenge negative body image and encouraging young people to look within to discover true value and beauty."
In July 2018, Education Minister Damian Hinds announced new government regulations concerning sex education. Topics such as mental wellbeing, consent, keeping safe online, physical health and fitness, and LGBT issues will be covered under the new guidelines, which are the first changes to sex education regulations since 2000, and which will be mandatory in all primary and secondary schools in England from September 2020 onward. The move was welcomed by LGBT groups in particular, who cited statistics showing that only 13% of LGBT youth had been taught about healthy same-sex relationships in schools. In addition, parents will retain certain rights to veto sex education lessons, but by the age of 16, the child may attend the lessons regardless of the parents' wishes. The draft guidance states: "By the end of primary school, pupils should know that others' families, either in school or in the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children's families are also characterised by love and care for them." The guidance for secondary schools adds: "Pupils should be taught the facts and the law about sex, sexuality, sexual health and gender identity in an age-appropriate and inclusive way... All pupils should feel that the content is relevant to them and their developing sexuality."
This followed reports of some religious schools deliberately avoiding the issue, most notably an Orthodox Jewish school in north London which in 2018 had removed all references to the homosexual victims of Nazism, Nazi persecution throughout their textbooks. According to the Department of Education, faith-based schools would no longer have a right to opt-out of sex education lessons. In September 2018, the UK's Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, agreed to comply with this new policy and published guidelines on how to teach LGBT sex education in British Jewish schools.
In October 2018, ''The Sunday Times'' reported that the British Government had decided to grant exemptions to private schools from LGBT-inclusive education. In November 2018, however, both the PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum published a policy road-map which stated, among other things, that "the law requires that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is to be taught in all secondary schools in England, and that Relationships Education is to be taught in all primary schools in England." The road-map also detailed 10 steps which will be used to enforce the policy, and also stated that "Health Education will also be mandatory in all government funded schools, which includes content on puberty." In February 2019, the Department of Education enacted a statutory guidance policy which will assist schools in England with PSHE when it becomes compulsory in 2020.
A measure to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, PSHE compulsory received approval from the House of Lords in April 2019. The Department for Education (DfE) published final statutory guidance for teaching Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education in June 2019. The guidelines, which were also published by the House of Commons, require, among other things, acknowledgement of England's laws concerning LGBT rights, including the legalisation of same-sex marriage, and the protection of the "physical and mental well-being" of LGBT children. Despite not mandatory until September 2020, schools in England were encouraged to enact the new PSHE curriculum starting in September 2019. In September 2020, the PSHE curriculum went into effect in England's high schools and elementary schools. with high schools also adapting LGBT PSHE sex education.
Wales similarly announced new regulations about sex education in May 2018, which will also discuss LGBT issues in schools. The regulations, expected to come into force in 2022, will be mandatory from Year 7 (age 11–12).
The Scottish National Party's 2016 manifesto supports sex education classes, as well as "equality training" for teachers, that would cover LGBT issues. In November 2018, the Scottish Government announced the implementation of LGBT-inclusive education in the Scottish school curriculum. The move was welcomed by LGBT activists who cited studies that have found that about 9 in 10 LGBT Scots experience homophobia at school, and 27% reported they had attempted suicide after being bullied.
In December 2021, the Welsh Government's Relationships and Sexuality Education Code was criticised by Welsh Conservatives, who claimed that the Welsh Labour, Labour-led government was following a "woke ideology" and attempting an "indoctrination of children in gender identity ideology".
Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education Children's Services and Skills) assesses the inclusion of LGBT people in policies and the curriculum.
LGBT rights movement
Advocacy organisations
The Homosexual Law Reform Society
The Homosexual Law Reform Society was an organisation that campaigned in the United Kingdom for changes to the set of laws which criminalised homosexuality at the time.
History
In 1954 the Conservative government set up a Departmental Committe ...
, founded on 12 May 1958 in response to the findings of the Wolfenden Report, was one of the first LGBT rights organization, LGBT groups in the UK. Nowadays, Stonewall (charity), Stonewall exists as the largest LGBT equality organisation in the UK and Europe.
LGBT people are allowed to serve openly in the police and, in 1990 the Gay Police Association, Lesbian and Gay Police Association (LAGPA) was founded. The Association was closed in 2014 and replaced by the National LGBT Police Network.
Pride parades
There are large LGBT communities most notably in Birmingham (Birmingham Gay Village), Blackpool, Brighton (LGBT community of Brighton and Hove), Liverpool (LGBT culture in Liverpool), London (Old Compton Street) and Manchester (Canal Street (Manchester), Canal Street), who all host annual pride parade, pride festivals.
Many pride festivals are hosted in the UK every year. The first gay marches were in London in 1970, followed by the debut of the UK Gay Pride Rally there in 1972. Pride in London is the biggest and oldest festival, and has been organised annually since. Pride festivals are very popular summer events in major cities, and have expanded to smaller communities in recent years.
In May 2020, on the 5th anniversary of the passing of the same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland, Amnesty International, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Rainbow Project announced the first mass demonstration in Belfast, Northern Ireland, protesting against the failure of the UK government in delivering full same-sex marriage rights, despite legalising same-sex marriage earlier with the ''Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019'' as people wanting to convert their civil union into marriage are unable to do so.
Role of the Council of Europe
According to Juris Lavrikovs from ILGA-Europe
ILGA-Europe is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It is an advocacy group promoting the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, at the European level. I ...
, the Council of Europe's European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
has been a positive force for LGBT rights, especially with regards to decriminalising same-sex consensual activity, barring discrimination against transgender individuals in employment, equalising the age of consent, enabling LGBT people to serve openly in the military, allowing transgender people the right to marry, employment equality and the including pension right for transgender individuals.
Demographics
According to the Office of National Statistics, the Percentage of the UK population identifying as Gay, lesbian or bisexual increased from 1.5% in 2012 to 2.0% in 2017. There are 1.1 million people identifying as LGB in UK. The 16 to 24 age group were the most likely to identify as LGB in 2017 (4.2%).
A 2010 Integrated Household Survey estimated 1.5% of people in the UK identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual – far lower than previous estimates of 5–7%. Interpreting the statistics, an Office for National Statistics (ONS) spokesperson said, "Someone may engage in sexual behaviour with someone of the same sex but still not perceive themselves as gay." According to YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...
, however, studies such as that of the Integrated Household Survey underestimate the true proportion of the population that is LGBT as they use a face-to-face methodology, and non-heterosexual people are less willing to disclose their sexual orientation to an interviewer. YouGov itself estimates, based on its panel, which was inquired via an online questionnaire, that the proportion of LGBT people in the UK is 7%. It is also estimated that the trans population of the UK is between 300,000 and 500,000 people, but Stonewall (charity), Stonewall concludes that it is hard to define the LGBT population of the UK because some LGBT people are not Coming out, out.
Representation
Census
In 2009, the Equality and Human Rights Commission called for the inclusion of a question on sexual orientation in the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census, but this was rejected by the Office for National Statistics who run the census.
In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census questions on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation were included for the first time. Stonewall supported the move, stating "gathering data on LGBT communities in the UK is a vital step towards building a society where LGBT people are truly accepted, everywhere and by everyone." These provisions were made in the Census (Return Particulars and Removal of Penalties) Act 2019 for England and Wales, and in the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2019 for Scotland. The guidance to the question "What is your sex?" was subject to 2021 United Kingdom census#sex controversy, a High Court case, led by Fair Play For Women, which found that sex should only be declared per the sex recorded on either a birth certificate or Gender Recognition Certificate, rather than any official document.
Media
As national broadcaster, the BBC reflected government sentiment around LGBT+ people through modern history. In 1938, the BBC broadcast "female impersonator" Douglas Byng, who was closeted at the time of broadcast. In 1957, following the release of the Wolfenden Report, BBC Radio broadcast a special programme titled "The Homosexual Condition" and the subject was discussed on ''Lifeline'' and ''Any Questions?'' television programmes. In 1965 the BBC postponed the broadcast of ''The Wednesday Play: Horror of Darkness'' due to the inclusion of a gay love triangle.
Following the 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 th ...
, BBC television representation increased. In 1970, the first ever gay kiss was shown on television, between Ian McKellen and James Laurenson in a performance of Edward II (play), ''Edward II''. The first lesbian kiss was shown later in 1974, between Alison Steadman and Myra Frances on the TV show ''Girl'', part of ''Second City Firsts''. In 1987, ''EastEnders'' showed the first same-sex kiss on a British Soap opera, soap. In 1995, the show ''Gaytime TV'' was broadcast on BBC Two, the first to be primarily targeted at queer audiences.
Music continued to be censored by the BBC throughout the 1970s and 80s. In 1978, Tom Robinson's ''Glad to Be Gay, Glad to be Gay'' was banned by BBC Radio 1. In 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax (song), ''Relax'' was similarly banned from daytime and chart shows.
In 2005, the first LGBT History Month took place, with broadcast on the BBC generally sceptical. The BBC has continued to cover LGBT History Month.
In 2010, the BBC Trust produced a report calling for increased representation of LGBT minorities, including more "incidental homosexuality" in TV programming.
In March 2019, the first LGBT+ correspondent for BBC News, Ben Hunte was hired. In November 2020, it was announced that staff working in news and current affairs at the BBC were banned from attending UK pride marches, so as not to be seen as politically biased (even in a "personal" individual capacity). The BBC later clarified that whilst it was not a blanket ban, staff should seek permission before attending events.
In July 2020, the first same-sex kiss on the children's TV channel CBBC (TV channel), CBBC was aired, following a long-running romantic arc between two female characters on the Canadian teen drama series ''The Next Step (2013 TV series), The Next Step''.
Politics
LGBT people have been serving openly in politics since the 1970s. The first openly lesbian MP was Maureen Colquhoun (Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, MP 1974–79), who was outed in 1976.
Following the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 general election, an estimated 54 openly LGBT MPs were elected to Parliament, of whom 24 were Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
, 19 Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
10 Scottish National Party, SNP and Layla Moran from the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats, who became the first ever pansexual MP.
Jamie Wallis, Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP for Bridgend since 2019, is the first openly transgender MP. Nikki Sinclaire was the first ever trans British parliamentarian as the Member of the European Parliament, MEP for West Midlands (European Parliament constituency), West Midlands from 2009 to 2014.
Currency
In March 2021, the Bank of England announced that the next Bank of England £50 note, £50 note would have Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
displayed on the reverse; it entered circulation on 23 June 2021, reflecting Turing's birth date.
Public opinion
Towards homosexuality
In 1993, Stonewall conducted a survey of gay men and lesbians at work where they found two-thirds of respondents hid their sexuality at work and only 11% of respondents never hid their sexual orientation in the workplace. A follow up survey done in 2008 found that 20% of gay and lesbian people had experienced bullying at work.
Attitudes towards homosexuality amongst the British public have become more tolerant over time; according to the British Social Attitudes Survey, in 1983 approximately 50% to 70% of respondents of the three major political parties (Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat) regarded homosexuality as "always wrong" or "mostly wrong" and in 1993 opposition to homosexuality was reported to have slightly increased amongst all parties. However, by 2003 attitudes had become more tolerant, with 25% to 50% of respondents regarding homosexuality as always or mostly wrong and by 2013, only around 20% to 35% of respondents in each party felt the same way. Liberal Democrat respondents tended to be less likely to regard homosexuality as wrong than Labour or Conservative respondents across each survey.
An illustration of social attitudes towards homosexuality in the UK was provided in May 2007 in a survey by YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...
. The poll indicated that legislation outlawing discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was supported by 90% of British citizens. It also showed positive public perceptions of gay people in particular, but recognised the extent to which prejudice still exists. A poll in June 2009 conducted by Populus for ''The Times'' reported that the majority of the public supported same-sex marriage; 61% of respondents agreed that "Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships". There were few differentials by partisanship.
A more recent opinion poll, conducted in 2017 by Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C.
It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
, found that 77% of the British public were in favour of same-sex marriage. Support had increased to 85% according to the 2019 Eurobarometer, which polled all members states of the European Union on the question. The EU average was 69%.
Towards transgender people
A June 2020 survey by YouGov found that British people tended to support people identifying as the gender of their choice, but did not support making the legal process easier. YouGov's analysis also remarked that British "[p]eople tend to be fine with transgender people using facilities for their new gender, but not if they have not undergone gender reassignment surgery". The survey found women and younger respondents to be more trans-friendly than men and older respondents.
LGBT experience
In 2017, 108,000 people participated in the National LGBT Survey, making it one of the biggest survey of LGBT people in the world. LGBT people were found to be less satisfied with life compared to the wider UK population, with trans satisfaction notably lower. 68% of respondents said they avoided holding hands with their same-sex partner in public. 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy, with 2% undergoing such therapies. The findings from the National LGBT Survey have been used to inform a 75-point LGBT Action Plan to address the key issues identified, including bringing forward proposals to ban conversion therapy in the UK.
Right of asylum
Current UK policy around the right of asylum for LGBT people requires that they experience a fear of persecution and violence. It being unlawful to be in a same-sex relationship in an asylum seeker's home country is not considered grounds enough to grant asylum in the UK. Prior to 2010, a 'discretion test' was applied, although this was ruled unlawful in the 2010 Supreme Court case ''HJ and HT v Home Secretary'', where the judge ruled that having to hide one's sexuality or gender identity to prevent persecution or violence was enough to meet the threshold for asylum.
In August 2021, the Home Office ordered the deportation of a gay man back to his country of birth Afghanistan - which is back under Taliban control. Homosexuality is a serious criminal offence within Afghanistan law. A review is being conducted to investigate the situation by the shadow Labour Party (UK), Labour Party immigration minister in the House of Commons. A spokesperson for the Home Office later stated that all deportations to Afghanistan had been halted, pending review.
Summary by legal jurisdiction and territory
Crown dependencies
Overseas Territories
Summary table
''Please note: when a jurisdiction is not specified, the right applies to the whole of the United Kingdom. Does not include the British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown dependencies''
Notes
See also
* Timeline of LGBT history in the United Kingdom
* Gay Rights Working Party—1980s work in London to combat discrimination and police abuse
* Hall–Carpenter Archives
* History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom
* Human rights in the United Kingdom
* Intersex rights in the United Kingdom
* Labour Campaign for Trans Rights
* LGBT Humanists UK
* LGBT Network
* LGBT rights by country or territory
* LGBT rights in Europe
* LGBT rights in Northern Ireland
* LGBT rights in Scotland
* LGBT rights in the Commonwealth of Nations
* PinkNews
''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005.
It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights aro ...
* Sexual orientation and military service
* Stonewall (charity)
* Transgender rights in the United Kingdom
Notes
References
Sutherland v. United Kingdom
nbsp;– 25186/94 [2001] ECHR 234 (27 March 2001)
Further reading
* Browne, Katherine, and Catherine J. Nash. "Resisting LGBT rights where 'we have won': Canada and Great Britain." ''Journal of Human Rights'' (2014) 13#3 pp: 322–336.
* Clements, Ben. "Partisan Attachments and Attitudes towards Same-Sex Marriage in Britain." ''Parliamentary Affairs'' (2014) 67#1 pp: 232–244.
* Cohler, Deborah. ''Citizen, Invert, Queer: Lesbianism and War in Early Twentieth-Century Britain'' (2010)
* Cook, Matt et al. '' A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages'' (2007)
* Goldberg, Suzanne B. "Open Service and Our Allies: A Report on the Inclusion of Openly Gay and Lesbian Servicemembers in U.S. Allies' Armed Forces," ''William & Mary Journal of Women & Law'' (2011) v 17 pp 547–90
online
* Gunn, Drewey Wayne. ''Gay Novels of Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, 1881–1981: A Reader's Guide'' (2014)
* Robinson, Lucy. ''Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal Got Political'' (2008)
*
External links
LGBT History Month United Kingdom website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100205020918/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/united_kingdom_02.html GLBTQ website article on the history of LGBT life in the United Kingdom from 1900 to the present.]
Comprehensive UK and International LGBT news website
(UK) LGBT History Project's Wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lgbt Rights In The United Kingdom
LGBT rights in the United Kingdom,
Human rights in the United Kingdom