By Kate Shannon
"We knew we were breaking the law. We went right out into Sussex, into the middle of nowhere. We were petrified that we were going to be caught." So a young gay man describes his first homosexual experience under the shadow of the British Sexual Offences Act of 1967.
The decision of parliament on February 21 to lower the age of consent for gay men from 21 to 18 instead of 16, which applies for heterosexuals, means thousands of young gay men will continue to "break the law".
Homosexuality didn't become a criminal offence in Britain until 1885. The Sexual Offences Act in 1967 decriminalised homosexuality and set the age of consent at 21. In Scotland homosexuality wasn't decriminalised until 1980 and in the six northern Irish counties in 1982. Lesbian sex has never been recognised by British law.
The Home Office had conservatively estimated that there were 500,000 male homosexuals in Britain. This meant that, apart from motorists, homosexual men in 1967 were the largest category of offenders.
All the traditional homophobic arguments protecting impressionable youths from older men and the immaturity of young men were used to maintain a higher age of consent. As early as the 1957 Wolfenden report, it was recognised that sexual orientation is fixed very early in life and that differences in maturity between girls and boys largely disappear by 15 or 16.
Recent legislation has increased discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Attempts by some education authorities in the mid-'80s to break the silence on homosexuality in the school system led to Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which makes it unlawful for local authorities and schools to portray homosexuality as acceptable or to give "positive images" of lesbians or gay men. A 1991 Health Education Authority survey of people between 16 and 19 showed only 18% had heard homosexuality mentioned in sex education classes.
In June 1992 the Conservative government announced that homosexuality in the armed forces would no longer be a criminal offence, but gay men are still thrown out of the forces.
On the 25th anniversary of decriminalisation gay groups stepped up a coordinated campaign for an equal age of consent at 16. This culminated in the House of Commons on the night of February 21, when Conservative MP Edwina Currie moved her amendment as more than 5000 protesters kept a vigil outside.
There was no question that the age of consent would be lowered, the debate was by how much. Both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party allowed a free (conscience) vote; only the Liberal Democrats supported an equal age of consent. The Labour Party was warned by the gay activist group OutRage that the lesbian and gay community would be unlikely to forgive Labour if the vote lost. The amendment was defeated by 27 votes.
The British Medical Association came out in support of 16, as did the medical journal Lancet and the Royal College of Psychiatry. The Law Society also supported the reform, as did the bishop of Durham. Many AIDS-related charities supported Currie's amendment, arguing it would encourage wider counselling and education among young homosexuals who might otherwise be afraid to come forward.
"Either the law is ineffectual and should be swept away or it works and is dangerous", argued Currie. "I am not for gay rights. I am for equal rights for all. It's time to take the dark shadow and turn it into a human being, to seize our homophobic instincts and chuck them on the scrap heap of history where they belong."
Anger spread through the demonstration, which had waited five hours to hear the vote. Many of the 5000 protesters tried to push their way past police and through crash barriers put up outside House of Commons. Many stayed till the early hours, while a spontaneous sit-in occurred outside 10 Downing St.
Peter Tatchell, spokesperson for OutRage, stated: "It's a shameful day for democracy that MPs have refused to accept the human rights of gay people ... Eighteen is not a compromise, it's discrimination." OutRage has announced a march on the House of Commons for March 14.
The government resisted pressure from a European Parliament recommendation adopted on February 14 to equalise the age of consent and to abolish "discriminatory provisions to stem the supposed propagation of homosexuality" in the press and elsewhere. Recent scandals surrounding some Conservative MPs' private lives had already undermined the Tory "back to basics" campaign on moral issues.