Brody's Scribbles... Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto. Have We Made Progress Since 1971? (Part 8)

By Tim Trent (Dartmouth, England) MAR 11 | In this rundown of the Gay Liberation Front 1971 Manifesto we get to the big part today. We look at the law. Back in 1967 in parts of the UK, at other dates in many other places, homosexual acts were legalised. There were still restrictions. The sexual acts were limited to total privacy, which meant no-one else in the house, not just the room, and the participants had to be over 21, which sat uneasily with the age of heterosexual consent of 16.

Those under the age of consent committed an illegal act. People often don't realise that. They think that it was somehow allowed for those under 21 to have sexual congress. It was not. It weas even more complicated than that:

THE LAW

If you live in Scotland or Ireland; if you are under 21, or over 21 but having sex with someone under 21; if you are in the armed forces or the merchant navy; if you have sex with more than one other person at the same time-and you are a gay male, you are breaking the law

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act gave a limited license to adult gay men. Common law however can restrict us from talking about and publicising both male and female homosexuality by classing it as 'immoral'. Beyond this there are a whole series of specific minor offences. Although 'the act' is not illegal, asking someone to go to bed with you can be classed as 'importuning for an immoral act', and kissing in public is classed as 'public indecency'

Even if you do not get into trouble, you will find yourself hampered by the application of the law in your efforts to set up home together, to raise children, and to express your love as freely as straight people may do.

The practice of the police in 'enforcing' the law makes sure that cottagers and cruisers will be zealously hunted, while queer-bashers may be apprehended, half-heartedly after the event.

The detail of this snippet is worth reading. In this country after the passing of the act more homosexual men were entrapped by over zealous police officers than before it. Ask a man for a date in a bar and you were importuning for an immoral act. Kiss and you were committing an immoral act. Be in the armed forces of the Merchant Navy and it was unlawful anyway. Don't even think about being a homosexual Scot or Northern Irish citizen.

Justice, finial figure of the Old Bailey

It was a sea change in the law, but it didn't make life for homosexual men any easier. In the euphoria of the legalisation of homosexual acts many were entrapped and prosecuted for homosexual acts.

Since then much has changed. More laws came in to hamstring us. Part 3 of this discussion refers to Section 28 of The Local Government Act, an odious piece of legislation designed to make schoolchildren and their teachers unable to discuss homosexuality in any meaningful manner. That is gone now.

On the positive side, Northern Ireland and Scotland have come into line and legalised homosexual acts. And, in two steps, the age of consent was reduced first to 18 and then to 16. It is now equal to the age of heterosexual consent. That has not of itself been without difficulties, since people were prosecuted iun the past for age specific offences and gained criminal records from them at the time. Today those same acts would have been lawful. The UK government is regularising this situation on a case by case basis, with criminal records being expunged on request.

The UK's armed services are now not only allowed to be homosexual, but are allowed to march in full uniform in Gay Pride parades. Israel has had homosexual equality in its armed forces for years. By contrast the USA has only just repealed the invidious Don't Ask Don't Tell law and hasn't managed yet to implement that because training is required to order their troops to stop discriminating.

The UK has introduced Civil Partnerships for homosexual couples who wish for a formal contract between each other, and is studying the term 'Marriage' for this use as well. The USA is busy arguing the toss over it at present and has, on a state by state basis, made it a political football. Only this week Minnesota has voted to keep a ban against homosexual marriage. The rest of the world is watching the USA, both in disgust, and in amusement.

The UK also has made further steps:

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows transsexual people to change their legal gender. Before doing so, they must dissolve any existing marriage, which can have serious consequences for a married couple who wish to stay together after one party has changed gender. Under special provisions of the Civil Partnership Act, such couples are able to dissolve their marriage and enter into a civil partnership the same day.

So things, at least in the civilised world, are moving forward fast. The USA is trying hard to catch up, but is hampered by militant homophobic bullies in what purport to be religious pressure groups. These groups spend a fortune on campaigning to persecute LGBT people. They use the legislative process to attempt it. The desire to persecute is illogical and has no biblical foundation, despite the bible being the weapon of these people's choice in the fierce debates on the subject.

And nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and Zimbabwe? They are not part of the civilised world at all.

This article cannot even attempt to chart the laws, counter laws and changes since 1971. There is a PhD thesis in that study. All that can be done here is to take a few snapshots. Those snapshots show massive progress in the civilised world, some progress in the USA, which may yet earn its place in the group of civilised nations, and no progress at all in the hell holes of the world.

It's just Human Rights. That's what we're looking at. The progress of Human Rights in the civilised world is important. The Old World is still showing the USA the way.