Page 15 - Spring 2015
Basic HTML Version
Amazingly, gay sex was illegal in the Isle of Man until
1992 and after that, the age of consent was set at 21.
This was lowered to 18 in 2001 before finally being
equalised at 16 in 2006.
2007
Just like the Isle of Man before it, Jersey lowered
its age of consent for male homosexual sex to 16 as
well. Gay sex was illegal in Jersey before 1990 and
since the age of consent was lowered, other rights
have been won such as the right to adopt. However,
same-sex marriage is still not permitted and there are
also no specific laws which protect LGBTs against
discrimination.
In the UK, regulations covering LGBs against
discrimination in the provision of goods and services
came into effect. The laws protecting the trans
community in a similar way were brought onto the
statute books a year later. There was a great deal
of opposition to the Act, especially from Catholic
adoption agencies who claim they would be ‘forced’
to offer services to same-sex couples even though that
would be against their beliefs.
2008
Over in the USA, gay rights in California hit a
massive stumbling block – Prop 8. Prompted George
Bush’s attempts to implement a constitutional ban
on same-sex marriage as well as a few attempts to
legally marry gay and lesbian couples in the state,
voters in the general election who lived in California
were asked if they supported an amend to the state’s
constitution, banning same-sex marriages. It was very
narrowly voted ‘yes’ but a small margin of less than
5%. The amendment was made to the constitution
immediately and a campaign against so-called
‘proposition 8’ began.
In the UK, the gay community received the sad news
that co-founder of LGBT History Month Paul Patrick,
had died. Paul had been an English teacher for much
of his career and became a leading voice for equality
both professionally and outside of school life.
There was also sad news on the Liverpool gay scene
when the murder of teenager Michael Causer took
place. He was assaulted at a house party after one of
his murderers looked at Michael’s phone and found
sexually explicit gay images. His attackers had never
met Michael before and both were sentenced to
murder and manslaughter to serve a minimum of 11
years.
2009
The year started a little better than 2008 with the
appointment of the first ever lesbian world leader.
After the Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde
tendered his resignation in late January, openly gay
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir took over the reins. She
remained in office until May 2013.
In Denmark, there was also a significant breakthrough
for gay rights when it became legal for same-sex
couples to jointly adopt. LGBT rights have been a
high priority in Denmark for many years and it is, by
all accounts, one of the best countries for gay people
to live. Same-sex activity was legalised over 30 years
before it was in the UK and there had been legal
partnerships in the country since 1989.
In the USA, there was a new President who was out
to impress with his pro-gay attitude. The families
and supporters of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd,
two victims of brutal homophobic hate crimes, had
pushed for new legislation to give minorities greater
protection from hate crimes. Obama signed the bill
15
