So 50 years ago, on July 27, the Sex Crimes Act of 1967 received royal consent, partially decriminalizing homosexuality and beginning a long and difficult journey to end discrimination and harassment of LGBT people.
I was 17 at the time and very much in the closet as a trans woman, and I was terrified that I could also be ‘gay’. I think now it’s hard for people to understand how scary life was for all LGBT people back then, in the “Summer of Love.” The news about the law change was definitely not well received in my house.
Mid-1967 was an incredible time. The Labor Party under the leadership of Harold Wilson had obtained a significant majority the previous year and was now actively seeking to bring about social change. The Beatles had just released “Sgt. Peppers” heralding a new era in popular music and hippy flower power was transforming youth culture around the world. Britain had also officially applied to join the EEC, which would later become the EU, which would become the catalyst for the positive changes to the LGBT Act that we all now enjoy.
But before the positive changes in LGBT law after New Labor’s election, we would still have to experience a severe hardening of negative attitudes. First, the Sex Crimes Act of 1976 did not decriminalize homosexuality. The crime of gross indecency, which resulted in the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde, continued until 2003. In fact, as Peter Tatchell has shown, arrests for gross indecency increased by 400% in the mid-1970s and remained at that level. until the nineties.
The 1967 Act specifically applies to consenting gay men over the age of 21 who have a sexual relationship “in private.” The courts interpreted “in private” very strictly as “no one else in the building.” As a result, the police aggressively pursued gay men if they encountered a partner in a hotel room, which was not considered in private. Even the simple acts of holding hands or winking at another man would likely result in an arrest.
In fact, between 1967 and 1997, UK law made life increasingly difficult for all LGBT people. In 1970, the annulment of April Ashley’s marriage meant that trans people could not legally change gender, meaning that many trans women were now being treated like men and charged with indecency and sodemic.
During the 1980s, HIV and AIDS were viewed by the conservative government as a ‘gay plague’ and in 1988, motivated by moral panic, they enacted Section 28 of the Local Government Act to make it illegal for the public sector treat homosexuality as normal. As a result, all public education about same-sex relationships ceased until it was finally repealed in 2003.
Perhaps you can understand from this why the LGBT community is celebrating this 50th anniversary with such enthusiasm. It’s not just about celebrating what happened 50 years ago, it’s about celebrating a 50-year battle. The offenses of gross indecency and de facto sodemic remained applicable in Scotland until 2013. Same-sex marriage was finally allowed in the same year.
In 2015, more than 7,000 LGBT people reported hate crimes. In fact, research indicates that more than 75% of LGBT people have experienced hate crimes, although 95% of those crimes were never reported.
Celebrating this 50 year milestone as we did in Hull last week is great and a reminder that we have now won most of the legal battles for equality. However, while changing the law has been difficult, changing attitudes is a much tougher challenge that we have yet to overcome.
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