A (brief) history of LGBTQ+ law in the UK

With LGBTQ+ rights emerging in recent headlines, Alex Berry takes a look at the history of queer legislation in the UK, and how laws have impacted social attitudes. LGBTQ+ rights emerging in recent headlines, Alex Berry takes a look at the history of queer legislation in the UK, and how laws have impacted social attitudes.

Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing were prosecuted for being homosexual under UK law

Original image credit: The British Library

It can often feel as though, among the steps in the direction of progress in accepting the LGBTQ+ community, there are frequent setbacks. Sure, it’s not illegal to hold hands with your same-sex partner in public, you can choose to have children together and start a family, you can even marry your same-sex partner in a legal ceremony in front of your family and friends -  a right not given to queer British people of the past. But despite all the improvements of the last few decades, there’s still a lot of work to do.

With hate crimes against people in the LGBTQ+ community on the rise in recent years, increasing from just over 5000 between 2014-15 to 13, 530 between 2018-19, and the controversial comments made by Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party Conference last month, queer people have taken to social media to voice their concerns about the regressions in acceptance and equality regarding being queer in Britain.

Although there has seemed to be general acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in recent years, the Prime Minister simplifying the trans rights debate as, “A man is a man and a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense” suggests that there is still discrimination and being enacted, even at the top level of government.

While there have been some vast improvements and developments in the journey to equality for the LGBTQ+ community, these recent setbacks are not isolated events, and there is a vast history of homophobia in the UK, which is often driven by legislation. Through tracking policies throughout history, we are able to determine the developments and downfalls of sexual acceptance in this country, and how this impacts the overall social attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community.

Early modern history

Back in 1533, the act of anal sex or ‘buggery’ was determined an offence so severe it would be punished by hanging. Overseen by King Henry VIII, the Buggery Act became the country’s first sodomy law, and was in place until 1828, when it was repealed by Mary I. The last two Englishmen to be executed for reasons associated with this law were James Pratt and John Smith, hanged on 27 November 1835 in front of Newgate Prison, London.

“the thought of two females in a relationship was considered too taboo to even regard as a criminal offence”

The death penalty for homosexual acts was removed in 1861 under Section 61 of the Offences Against the Person Act. But male homosexuality remained illegal and would still be punished with a prison sentence:renowned author Oscar Wilde was convicted under this act, and was imprisoned at Newgate Prison after being accused of ‘sodomy’ by the Marquess of Queensbury. 

The following year saw the Indian Penal Code come in, which among other things criminalised same-sex activity in India, and eventually influenced the laws which affected homosexual rights across the British Empire.

As for lesbians, there were no laws preventing sexual relations between two women, or any legal documentation stating that this would be a criminal offence. But unsurprisingly this is not because Britain was filled with pro-lesbian, feminist, accepting individuals. Rather, the thought of two females in a relationship was considered too taboo to even regard as a criminal offence. There is a popular urban myth that Queen Victoria herself didn’t criminalise sex between women because she simply didn’t believe it happened. 

Policing in the 20th century

The 1950s saw the police crack down on enforcing the law on homosexual relations against homosexual relations. Alan Turing, the mathematician who built the machine that broke the Enigma code and ultimately helped Britain defeat Germany in the Second World War, was notably arrested during this time. Convicted of “gross indecency” in 1954, he was sentenced to chemical castration, as an alternative to prison.

In 2017, Turing became a figurehead for those convicted of homosexual crimes and sodomy. The Alan Turing Law, a section of the Policing and Crime Act, offered reparations to people who were prosecuted for being homosexual in the form of posthumous pardons. It also gave the men who were convicted but still alive the opportunity to apply for the erasure of their conviction, but in 2019 it was revealed that only half of those who applied for their conviction to be overturned were successful. 

Towards the end of the 50s, it looked as though a corner was perhaps being turned. The Wolfenden Committee, set up in August 1954, published a report in September 1957 that corrected a commonly held misconception about homosexuality at the time.

“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," the report found. In response, the committee recommended that homosexuality no longer be considered a criminal offence, a huge step forward for the LGBTQ+ community. 

In December of that year, the report was taken to Parliament, and a staggering eight of the 17 who spoke at the debate supported its recommendations. As a result of these findings, The Homosexual Law Reform Society was founded in May 1958, and aimed to campaign for changes to homosexual law related to the report.

In 1967, the Sexual Offences Act was passed and provided limited decriminalization of homosexual acts between men if the acts were consentual, took place in private and didn’t involve any man under the age of 21. 

Meanwhile in 1972, the first Pride parade took place in London, and was attended by approximately 2000 people. In 2023, there were over a million attendees.

Section 28

During her period as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher introduced Section 28 of the Local Government Act in 1988. This notorious act strictly prohibited the “promotion of homosexual activity” by local authorities, which included banning any teaching of it in schools. 

It wasn’t until the millennium that Section 28 was first considered for repeal, but was defeated. This was met with mixed responses from government officials, including then Shadow Education Secretary and future PM, Theresa May calling the defeat a “victory for commonsense”. 

Section 28 had a severe impact on social attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people, particularly among school children. A survey carried out by Stonewall in 2003 just before the section’s repeal found that 82% of teachers they spoke to were aware of verbal attacks against students in the LGBTQ+ community, with 26% of them also being aware of physical attacks.

This law, and its impact on social attitudes and headlines in the tabloid press, made the late 20th century an extremely hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people, and although outlawed, its legacy is arguably still evident today in school teaching. For example, in June 2023 it was debated among government officials whether schools should be educating students on the concept of ‘gender identity” arguing the danger of possible confusion and blurred lines for children being taught sex education. And more recently, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman came under fire at the Tory Party Conference this year when she denounced the term “gender ideology” calling it “highly controversial”.

Moving closer to acceptance

The 2000s saw the birth of much more progressive views regarding LGBTQ+ rights, with many laws and regulations put in place to better the opportunities and freedoms of queer people, and sanction, or discourage, acts of homophobia. 

The Gender Recognition Act of 2004 was monumental for transgender people, as it allowed those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender. While social attitudes towards the trans community still have a long way to go – the current Prime Minister himself said that biological sex is “fundamentally important” when debating trans equality issues – this act demonstrated legal recognition of sexual identity, and opened up wider conversations among Britons about moving towards acceptance for the trans community.

In 2007, the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (since written into the Equality Act of 2010) outlawed any discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. This included areas such as education, public functions, goods and services and facilities. This law supposedly protects queer people, along with other minority groups, from discrimination and homophobia, and allows them to be viewed equally to heterosexual or cisgender members of society, a huge step in the direction of progress for the community. 

So how has all this legislation affected queer people and the attitudes of the public? Does the general opinion of the UK’s people reflect the progress made in its legislation? Or are people still stuck in traditional ways, and reluctant to accept a more inclusive and progressive Britain? 

According to a National LGBT Survey carried out in 2017, using a sample of over 100,000 people, the quality of life satisfaction was lower for queer people compared to the wider UK population. A staggering 68% of people said they were reluctant to hold hands with their same-sex partner in public. However, a survey carried out in the same year by Pew Research Center found that 77% of the British public were in favour of same-sex marriage, suggesting that general opinion towards the freedom and equality of LGBTQ+ people is improving. 

Clearly the rights of the LGBTQ+ community to live freely and express their sexual orientation or gender identity, have been debated over, granted, and taken away at various points in the history of British law. While there has been visible progress over the last twenty years to advance the rights of LGBTQ+ people, which is gradually affecting social attitudes, recent events would suggest there is still significant room for improvement. This would be propelled by fair legislation and the discouragement of and accountability for homophobia.