UK to Review Sex Laws
PlanetOut News,
May 19, 2000
Summary: Archaic laws - like the one that punishes men kissing in public with a
five-year jail sentence - are targeted in a sweeping reform plan being considered in
Britain.
An official committee reviewing sexual offenses law in England and Wales has completed
the work it began in January 1999 and passed on to Cabinet ministers its sweeping
recommendations for reform, the British Government announced May 19. The recommendations
are likely to result in the biggest overhaul of its kind in a century. Home Secretary Jack
Straw has noted previously that ending discrimination based on sexual orientation will
require more than just the equalization of the age of consent that is now before the
parliament, and he is looking for the package to meet the standards of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which in a few months will become part of British law as the
Human Rights Act.
Gay-supportive Liberal Democratic MP Evan Harris said, "These reforms will start
to bring our sex laws out of the 19th century, if not yet into the 21st century." The
national gay and lesbian advocacy group Stonewall has been actively involved in the legal
review process, and there has also been extensive consultation with religious groups and
charities as well as various specialists and attorneys.
No details are available yet, but the report will be published in July and available
for public comment before any new legislation is drafted. Ministers are reportedly bracing
themselves for a wave of opposition, given the furor over the Labour Government’s
attempts to lower the age of consent for sex between men (currently 18) to match that for
heterosexual acts (currently 16 in Britain and Wales and 17 in Northern Ireland) and to
repeal Section 28, the never-enforced Thatcher-era prohibition against local governments
devoting resources to the "promotion" of homosexuality.
A number of the laws are archaic (up to 200 years old in some cases), conflict with
other statues, and make inappropriate distinctions between men and women as well as
between heterosexual and homosexual acts. For example, two men kissing in public can
qualify as gross indecency punishable by up to five years imprisonment. Charges of
importuning are more broadly applied to men, who can be imprisoned for them, than to
women, who cannot be imprisoned for them. Only men can be charged with indecent exposure
or pimping.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters, "What it’s about
is giving greater protection to people from sex crimes, and to children. It’s about
how we can punish abusers more effectively and ensure people can live without fear."
Stronger laws will be proposed to protect male victims of sexual assaults, as well as
children exploited by adults in positions of authority and women victims of "date
rape." Such terms as gross indecency, incest, indecent exposure, oral sex, pimping,
prostitution, and rape will be redefined. Currently, incest applies only to blood
relatives, not to step-parents or in-laws. Different charges apply to men and women for
consensual sex with underage minors. Even more anomalously, in consensual contacts between
adults and minors, foreplay can be charged as indecent assault punishable by up to ten
years imprisonment while unlawful intercourse has a maximum penalty of two years.
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