Gay rights history

Key term: heteronormativity - "the belief that heterosexuality...is the norm or default sexual orientation"

• The Buggery Act of 1533- Thus meant that male homosexuality was targeted for persecution in the UK. Convictions were punishable by death.
•  In 1861 the Offences Against the Person Act meant that the death penalty was abolished for acts of sodomy.
• Instead it was punishable for a minimum of 10 years in prison.
• The criminal law amendment act 1885 made any homosexual act illegal whether there was a witness or not. 
• The criminal law amendment act also meant that homosexual acts in private could be prosecuted and a letter of affection between two men is all it took for people to be brought into prosecution.
• The legislation was so ambiguousely worded that it was known as the 'Blackmailer's Charter'.
• Female homosexuality wasn't targeted by any legislation before a discussion in parliment in 1921 when they tried introducing a viewon discriminatory legislation.
• This failed when both the Houseof Commons and Lords rejected it due to the fear that this would encourage women to explore homosexuality.
• In 1946 Michael Dillon published 'Self: A study in Endocrinology', this bookin term could be described as an autobiography of the first transgender man to undergo phalloplasty surgery, from Laura to Michael.
• Im 1951 Roberta Cowell became the fisrt transgender women to undergo vaginoplasty sugery in the UK, publishing her autobiography in 1954.
• After WW2 many arrests/prosecutions were made againsts homosexual men.
• Wolfenden Report was published in 1957 three years after the committee first met in 1954.
• It was commissioned as evidence that homosexuality could not legitimately be regarded as a disease and aimed to bring about change in the current law.
• The report findings was that the state should focus on protecting the public rather than punishing peoples private lives.
• It took 10 years for the governemnt to implement the Wolfenden reports recommendations in the sexual offences act 1967.
• Backed by the church of England and houseof lords the sexual offences act partially leagalised same-sex acts in the UK betweenmen over the age of 21 conducted in private.
• Scotland and Northern Ireland followed in 1980-1981.
• In 1966 The Beaumont Society was set up to provide information to the general public about transgender people.
• Due to the stonewall riots in New York in 1969 over the treatment of the LGBT community by the police, the UK GLF was founded in 1970.
• The GLF protested with other oppressed groups and organised the very first pride march in 1972.
• Age of consent equality did not come till 2001 and 2009 in Northern Ireland.
• The local government act 1988 under Margaret Thatcher banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality and stopped councils fom funding educational matierials that percieved to promote homosexuality.
• It was repealed in 2003.
• In 2004 Civil partnership act allowed same-sex couples to legally enter into binding partnerships.
• Marriage act 2013 allowed same-sex couples to marry.
• The gender recognition act 2004 which came into effect in 2005 gave trnsgender people full legal recognition of their gender allowing them to get new birth certificates.