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Scottish Parliament moves closer to pardoning gay men convicted of historical laws - Attitude Skip to main content
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Home News News World

19 April 2018

Scottish Parliament moves closer to pardoning gay men convicted of historical laws

Homosexuality was a criminal offence up until 1981

By Steve Brown

Holyrood has moved closer to pardoning gay men convicted under historical discriminatory laws.

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) unanimously backed the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) Bill at stage one yesterday (18.04.18).

If passed, the legislation will pardon gay men who were convicted of crimes that are no longer illegal.

In Scotland, all sexual activity between men was a criminal offence up until 1981, when sex between men over the age of 21 was decriminalised.

It was only in 2001 that the age of consent was lowered to 16 – the age of heterosexual consent.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson told parliament: “I am under no illusion that this Bill, or any legislation, can in itself right the massive injustice caused by these discriminatory laws that criminalised the act of love another adult, deterred people from being open about who they are to family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues and, by sending a message that parliament considered that homosexuality was wrong, encouraged homophobic and hatred.”

Green MSP Patrick Harvie welcome the Bill and said it was “an important step in a very long journey”.

He said: “At a moment like this, I’m particularly aware as someone who has been out in his job as an MSP, I’m particularly aware of the debt I owe to those who faced much greater risks than I have to take those much earlier steps in this journey.”

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