1967 - Selective Legalisation of Homosexuality Act

Slightly tongue-in-cheek - I'm trying to think of a scenario that instead of general legalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in the UK, we instead only get a partial relaxing of the law - For example only legal for people who went to public school or were in the Navy (unlikely I know). Any suggestions ?
 
Slightly tongue-in-cheek - I'm trying to think of a scenario that instead of general legalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in the UK, we instead only get a partial relaxing of the law - For example only legal for people who went to public school or were in the Navy (unlikely I know). Any suggestions ?

Let me flip this one around. Maybe Parliament forbids the Church of England from ordaining those who come out, or defrocking those who come out while in the ministry and/or are found with a lover. In other words, enshrine into law the current Vatican policy (which was de facto DADT at many seminaries until recently, and I suspect is the same even after the seminary inspection.)

I am not an expert on C of E polity. I do know that Parliament once rejected major changes to the Prayer Book in 1928, but I don't know if they could effect legislation that concerns the ordination and ministry of clergy in the church. Legislation discriminating against gay people in the clergy would probably not have an impact in 1967, given that homosexuality was still quite taboo in many segments of society. But such legislation would have a huge impact in 2009, when the C of E and other constituent churches of the Anglican Communion are splitting over the question of open homosexuality in the clergy. I could see conservative factions in the C of E digging up the 1967 legislation and using it against those with a more lenient attitude towards active homosexuality in the clergy.

Something tells me that Parliament would recind such a law in 2009 at the prodding of the Archbishop of Canterbury, if Williams were interested in doing so. But I think it was inevitable that the battle over homosexuality in the C of E clergy would eventually happen, given the greater acceptance of gay people in modern society.
 
It must not be forgotten that the legislation as it stand in 1967 was a lot more restrictve than the law stands today. The age of consent for homosexuals was 21, for example.

Why restrict it to the clergy? What about excommunication from the CofE for all persons?
 
Slightly tongue-in-cheek - I'm trying to think of a scenario that instead of general legalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in the UK, we instead only get a partial relaxing of the law - For example only legal for people who went to public school or were in the Navy (unlikely I know). Any suggestions ?

The public school idea does remind me of the episode of the Goodies where Tim Brooke-Taylor is found guilty of being a member of the Scouts, but the judge lets him off because he went to a public school. :D

Whilst a serious scenario is difficult to conceive, the results of limited decriminalization for those of a certain class and education would have some interesting results, possibly leading to a backlash from those of a homosexual persuasion without the benefits of status...a British Stonewall?
 
I think it (slightly) more likely if it was done on ethnic or religious lines than, say, Public School attendance -because good Anglicans do not have these urges, but who knows than all those dark-skinned foreigners get up?

As an example, remember than male homoxexuality was illegal in Victorian Britain -but not female, because women simply did not do those things, you know. Much less proper british ladies.

But I cannot thingk on a simgle religious or ethnic group than would allow for such a law. Hindu inmigrants, maybe?
 
It was set at 21 because in 1967 that was the age of majority.

When the age was lowered to 18 in 1994, the interim period before full equality, one Lord recommended an age of consent of 99.

IIRC some proponents in 1967 did think the age should (seriously) be 25 or 30.
 
Slightly tongue-in-cheek - I'm trying to think of a scenario that instead of general legalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in the UK, we instead only get a partial relaxing of the law - For example only legal for people who went to public school or were in the Navy (unlikely I know). Any suggestions ?

As noted, the 1967 reform was very limited - it was only common sense that allowed freedoms between then and the 1990s.

1 - gay clubs and introductions (commerical or social) were still technically illegal, as it was an inducement to gay sex.

2 - both had to be over 21 (instead of 16) and there could be only two persons present.

3 - it had to be in private, which meant if a third party was in private house or in a hotel it was technically illegal to have sex, even if in a locked room.

4 - no one in the armed forces or merchant navy was covered by the act

5 - the police might well want to check the d.o.b. of participants.
 
4 - no one in the armed forces or merchant navy was covered by the act

When were gay people permitted to serve in the British armed forces?

Aside: it's interesting how certain issues in Britain were legalized through parliamentary legislation (homosexuality, abortion) while Americans legalized the same issues through the judiciary.
 
When were gay people permitted to serve in the British armed forces?

Aside: it's interesting how certain issues in Britain were legalized through parliamentary legislation (homosexuality, abortion) while Americans legalized the same issues through the judiciary.

That only changed about 10 years ago; during the 1990s you were just discharged, but before that you could spend time in a military prison before being given a dishonourable (although rare).
 
Aside: it's interesting how certain issues in Britain were legalized through parliamentary legislation (homosexuality, abortion) while Americans legalized the same issues through the judiciary.
That would be because Parliament is sovereign. There's no such thing as a law being declared unconstitutional- if Parliament passes it, it's the law. That's become slightly more complicated recently with the EU, but it's still broadly the case. The only way rights have been gained in the courts is when the court ruled that the government was acting against its own laws- for instance, the case in the 1950s that abolished identity papers. IIRC, they had been introduced as a wartime measure, but people still had to carry them after the war was over until someone was arrested for not showing his papers and challenged it in the courts.
 
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