British Gays to See Pre-Legalization Criminal Records Erased

British gays with past arrests for alleged acts that are no longer crimes are about to see the stain on their criminal records lifted under new legislation, British newspaper The Daily Mail reported on Oct. 5.

Being gay in Britain was illegal until 1967. Even then, age of consent was not equalized until 2000, following a reduction in the age of consent between same-sex partners to 18 in 1994. Now, the age of consent for both heterosexual and homosexual intimacy is 16.

But for individuals with criminal records based on earlier laws--such as "loitering with intent," a crime with which gay men were often charged for cruising--the country's legal progress was glaringly deficient. While younger men could engage in the same conduct without running afoul of the law, older men who came of age under the more restrictive legal codes found that their arrest records were a blight, even though the "crimes" they'd been charged with were no longer crimes at all.

The new law corrects that.

"Not only were these convictions unfair, but their presence on people's records has dissuaded many of those men from applying for jobs or volunteering their time to good causes," Ben Summerskill, the head of British GLBT equality group Stonewall, told the Daily Mail.

"Many police forces across Britain were, until the recent past, often highly creative in the way they unfairly prosecuted gay men," Summerskill added. "Consequently, we strongly welcome these provisions being extended to men prosecuted for what was often a trumped-up charge."

The article noted that men charged with sexual congress with partners of the same gender over at age of 16 but under the then-current higher age of consent for same-sex encounters were treated as sex offenders.

"Under the proposals, men convicted for consensual gay sex with over-16s will be able to apply to their local chief constable to remove the conviction from the records," the article said.

Full legal equality for GLBTs has taken great strides in Britain in recent years. Though same-sex couples cannot marry, they are granted legal recognition in the form of civil unions that entail many, though not all, of the same legal protections and obligations of marriage. British lawmakers are now pressing for full marriage parity for same-sex couples.

Moreover, the law is now more aware of the fact that gay and lesbian families often include children. Government documentation is set to reflect that fact, with "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" replacing the heteronormative terms "Mother" and "Father."

Three years ago, then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown extended an official, albeit posthumous, apology to famed British mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing, who proposed not only the creation of a "thinking machine," or early version of the computer, but also contemplated the differences between human and machine thought, coining the famous "Turing test." Turing also helped in British efforts to crack Nazi codes in World War II, and succeeded in breaking the Enigma code--a crucial step in waging an eventually successful campaign.

But the pioneering scientist was not spared persecution based on his sexual identity. When it became known to the British authorities that he was gay in 1952, Turing was charged and convicted of "gross indecency," a commonplace charge against gay men at the time. He was forced to take hormone treatments and confined to his home until he killed himself two years later, at age 41.

Computer scientist John Graham-Cumming launched a petition in 2009 to pressure the government and clear Turing's name. Thirty thousand people signed the petition, and on Sept. 10, 2009, Brown made the apology, stating that he was "deeply sorry" for the manner in which Turing had been treated because of his sexuality.

"At the height of the Cold War gay people were perceived as a threat by authorities because of the defection to the Soviet Union by diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean who were both homosexual," the Daily Mail noted in a Sept. 11, 2009 report on Brown's apology.

"While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time, and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair, and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him," Brown said.

"Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly," Brown added. "I am proud those days are gone."

The official acknowledgement of the legally sanctioned abuse that drove Turing to suicide, and affected the lives of thousands of others, was praised by GLBT equality advocate Peter Tatchell.

'Without Turing and other code-crackers, we might be living in the Third Reich. He helped us defeat fascism and win the war.

"His arrest and conviction, and his subsequent chemical castration to supposedly 'cure' his homosexuality, were barbaric, inhuman abuses of a truly outstanding war hero," Tatchell told the press.

The Daily Mail reported that the new law wiping clean the criminal records of gay men would clear the names of about 16,000 individuals.