UK: Homosexual marriage and homosexual conviction apologies - not enough for LGBT
HOMOSEXUAL ADVOCATES IN THIS ARTICLE STATE
GAY MARRIAGE AND APOLOGIES ARE NOT ENOUGH
Gay advocates have now moved beyond gay marriage to schools, the government and now want more changes.
The Government's plan to posthumously pardon gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales is a cosmetic measure which means very little to gay men today.
The 1967 Sexual Offences Act finally decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, although the law wasn’t changed in Scotland until 1980, or in Northern Ireland until 1982. The age of consent was only equalised in 1998.
Of the 65,000 men convicted under the laws, 15,000 are still alive. SNP MP Jon Nicholson's private member's bill, "talked out" in Parliament on Friday afternoon, would have meant an automatic pardon being granted to them too.
That’s all well and good as a symbolic gesture. But we continue to live in a society that sees LGBT people marginalised, discriminated against and let down – and this Government is failing to take action. Yes: despite marriage equality and enshrined protections in law, we’re still a long way from the point where gay men can live out their lives as equals.
Take the on-going "debate" around whether gay men deserve the right to be free from HIV by having access to life-saving prevention treatment PrEP. As the arguments drag on in the corridors of Whitehall, members of my community are dying. Opponents say making such medicine available encourages promiscuity and reckless behaviour: once again the sex lives of gay men being judged and policed by the state.
We are not only being abandoned over issues of physical well-being. The mental health epidemic that’s sweeping through the LGBT community continues to be ignored by those in power.
Gay and bisexual men over the age of 45 are six times more likely to attempt suicide that their heterosexual counterparts, while 44 per cent of young (16-24 year old) LGBT people have considered taking their own lives. The government's actions are making things worse.
The LGBT Consortium – the UK’s largest network of LGBT groups, projects and organisations – found that only 0.04 per cent of third sector funding makes its way to their members. With an estimated five to seven per cent of the UK population defining themselves as LGBT, the disproportionality is hard to ignore.
Instead of filling the gap, this government and its predecessor have cut local authority budgets, which have traditionally supported LGBT services in communities across the UK. TUC research highlights just how vulnerable LGBT voluntary and community sector organisations are to austerity, and we’re watching them shut their doors by the day.
Despite medical advances, men who have sex with men are still unable to donate blood, entrenching the idea that we are outsiders, not to be trusted. Since the vote for Brexit there’s been a 147 per cent spike in homophobic hate crime, which has met with very little official reaction.
If I were a cynic, I’d suggest it’s hardly surprising, given those who govern this country are themselves responsible for supporting and spreading homophobia in public debate and in law.
While Theresa May now wishes to paint herself as an LGBT champion, her years in Parliament suggest anything but. Her decision to vote against equalising the age of consent for gay men in 1998 shows she too is responsible for criminalising gay men.
She voted against repealing Section 28, the legislation that banned schools and local authorities educating pupils about homosexuality for fear it was “promoting” it. She voted no to same-sex adoption for good measure.
The offer of a pardon to our elders, alive and dead, who were abused and mistreated by the state doesn’t cut it.
A pardon still implies that having sex with a consenting adult of the same gender was at some point wrong or immoral. We should be dishing out grovelling apologies, not a half-hearted nod.
Justice Minister Sam Gyimah's decision to talk out Jon Nicholson's bill on Friday, forcing those living with the consequences of defunct homophobic laws to go through a further arduous process to clear their names, shows how little motivation there is from this government to think of the victims.
It’s insulting, moreover, to imply that state-sanctioned homophobia is now consigned to the history books, and our political leaders have the all clear.
If Theresa May and her government are serious about LGBT equality, her actions must be about more than lip service and making straight people feel good. Engaging with the HIV and mental health crises might be less palatable tasks, but currently these are costing lives.
The 1967 Sexual Offences Act finally decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, although the law wasn’t changed in Scotland until 1980, or in Northern Ireland until 1982. The age of consent was only equalised in 1998.
Of the 65,000 men convicted under the laws, 15,000 are still alive. SNP MP Jon Nicholson's private member's bill, "talked out" in Parliament on Friday afternoon, would have meant an automatic pardon being granted to them too.
That’s all well and good as a symbolic gesture. But we continue to live in a society that sees LGBT people marginalised, discriminated against and let down – and this Government is failing to take action. Yes: despite marriage equality and enshrined protections in law, we’re still a long way from the point where gay men can live out their lives as equals.
Take the on-going "debate" around whether gay men deserve the right to be free from HIV by having access to life-saving prevention treatment PrEP. As the arguments drag on in the corridors of Whitehall, members of my community are dying. Opponents say making such medicine available encourages promiscuity and reckless behaviour: once again the sex lives of gay men being judged and policed by the state.
We are not only being abandoned over issues of physical well-being. The mental health epidemic that’s sweeping through the LGBT community continues to be ignored by those in power.
Gay and bisexual men over the age of 45 are six times more likely to attempt suicide that their heterosexual counterparts, while 44 per cent of young (16-24 year old) LGBT people have considered taking their own lives. The government's actions are making things worse.
The LGBT Consortium – the UK’s largest network of LGBT groups, projects and organisations – found that only 0.04 per cent of third sector funding makes its way to their members. With an estimated five to seven per cent of the UK population defining themselves as LGBT, the disproportionality is hard to ignore.
Instead of filling the gap, this government and its predecessor have cut local authority budgets, which have traditionally supported LGBT services in communities across the UK. TUC research highlights just how vulnerable LGBT voluntary and community sector organisations are to austerity, and we’re watching them shut their doors by the day.
Despite medical advances, men who have sex with men are still unable to donate blood, entrenching the idea that we are outsiders, not to be trusted. Since the vote for Brexit there’s been a 147 per cent spike in homophobic hate crime, which has met with very little official reaction.
If I were a cynic, I’d suggest it’s hardly surprising, given those who govern this country are themselves responsible for supporting and spreading homophobia in public debate and in law.
While Theresa May now wishes to paint herself as an LGBT champion, her years in Parliament suggest anything but. Her decision to vote against equalising the age of consent for gay men in 1998 shows she too is responsible for criminalising gay men.
She voted against repealing Section 28, the legislation that banned schools and local authorities educating pupils about homosexuality for fear it was “promoting” it. She voted no to same-sex adoption for good measure.
The offer of a pardon to our elders, alive and dead, who were abused and mistreated by the state doesn’t cut it.
A pardon still implies that having sex with a consenting adult of the same gender was at some point wrong or immoral. We should be dishing out grovelling apologies, not a half-hearted nod.
Justice Minister Sam Gyimah's decision to talk out Jon Nicholson's bill on Friday, forcing those living with the consequences of defunct homophobic laws to go through a further arduous process to clear their names, shows how little motivation there is from this government to think of the victims.
It’s insulting, moreover, to imply that state-sanctioned homophobia is now consigned to the history books, and our political leaders have the all clear.
If Theresa May and her government are serious about LGBT equality, her actions must be about more than lip service and making straight people feel good. Engaging with the HIV and mental health crises might be less palatable tasks, but currently these are costing lives.
