\r\nNorthern Ireland is due to follow suit with these changes in September 2021.","value_formatted":"Legal","start_date_formatted":"Jun 14, 2021"}},"adoption":{"id":"4","label":"Same-sex adoption","description":"The ability for same-sex couples to legally adopt a child.","label_short":"Adoption","current_status":{"id":"3","value":"Legal","description":"IVF treatment is available for lesbian couples too.","value_formatted":"Legal","start_date_formatted":"Nov 7, 2002"}},"marriage":{"id":"3","label":"Same-sex marriage","history":[{"id":"8","value":"Legal","description":"Marriage equality in Northern Ireland was brought into line with the rest of the UK via the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019.","value_formatted":"Legal","end_date_formatted":"Jan 12, 2020","start_date_formatted":"2019"},{"id":null,"value":"varies","description":"Came into force as of March 29th, 2014 . Same-sex marriage is still unrecognized fully in some parts of the UK (such as Northern Ireland).","value_formatted":"Varies by Region","end_date_formatted":"Dec 31, 2018","start_date_formatted":"2013"},{"id":"8","value":"Legal","description":"The legislation allowed religious organisations to opt in to marry same-sex couples should they wish to do so and protected religious organisations and their representatives from successful legal challenge if they did not wish to marry same-sex couples.","value_formatted":"Legal","end_date_formatted":"2013","start_date_formatted":"2012"},{"id":"33","value":"Civil unions (marriage rights)","description":"The Civil Partnership Act (2004).
\r\n
\r\nUnder the Act, same-sex couples can register a civil partnership, which has almost the same legal effects, rights and obligations as marriage does for mixed-sex couples. For that reason, civil partnership is sometimes called ‘gay marriage’. However, legally, it is not marriage, but is a separate, segregated system","value_formatted":"Civil unions (marriage rights)","end_date_formatted":"2012","start_date_formatted":"2004"}],"description":"Marriage and marriage recognition between two people of the same biological sex and\/or gender identity.","label_short":"Gay Marriage","current_status":{"id":"8","value":"Legal","description":"Same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland came into force on 13 January 2020.","value_formatted":"Legal","start_date_formatted":"Jan 13, 2020"}},"military":{"id":"5","label":"Serving openly in military","history":[{"id":"18","value":"Illegal","description":"The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 explicitly made serving in the military as an openly gay\/bi man illegal. Prior to this act, it was illegal for a man to have sex with another man entirely, and therefore, it was also illegal.","value_formatted":"Illegal","end_date_formatted":"Jan 11, 2000","start_date_formatted":"1967"},{"id":"18","value":"Illegal","description":"Same-sex sexual activity was illegal for men, and therefore, these individuals were not permitted in the military.","value_formatted":"Illegal","end_date_formatted":"1967"}],"description":"The ability for homosexuals to serve in the military and be open about their sexuality.","label_short":"Military","current_status":{"id":"16","value":"Legal","description":"The Ministry of Defence were forced to change their stance on when the European Court of Human Rights ruled in September 1999 that the then current ban on gays in the military was unlawful.","value_formatted":"Legal","start_date_formatted":"Jan 12, 2000"}},"censorship":{"id":"15","label":"Censorship of LGBT Issues","history":[{"id":"55","value":"Other punishment","description":"Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 stated that local authorities could not \"intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality\" or \"promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship\". The law did not create a criminal offence, leaving staff to fear losing their jobs if they breached the rules. ","value_formatted":"Other punishment","end_date_formatted":"Nov 17, 2003","start_date_formatted":"Mar 24, 1988"}],"description":"Censorship or prohibition of discussing, promoting, or teaching LGBTQ+ topics in media, schools, and in the general public.","label_short":"Censorship","current_status":{"id":"56","value":"No censorship","description":"Previous law repealed by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003.","value_formatted":"No censorship","start_date_formatted":"Nov 18, 2003"}},"homosexuality":{"id":"1","label":"Homosexual activity","history":[{"id":"1","value":"Legal","description":"**LEGAL, WITH RESTRICTIONS**
\r\nThe Sexual Offences Act of 1967 legalized sexual acts between two men who were 21 or older (Excluding men serving in the military), but it placed new restrictions on sex for men who have sex with men. The act prohibited sex in places where a third party was likely to be present.","value_formatted":"Legal","end_date_formatted":"Nov 30, 2000","start_date_formatted":"Jul 27, 1967"},{"id":"36","value":"Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)","description":"The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 lowered the maximum penalty to life imprisonment.
\r\n
\r\nSubsequent laws, such as The Labouchere Amendment (Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885) redefined the offence and allowed for other punishments, for example Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labour in 1895, and in 1952 Alan Turing was chemically castrated.
\r\n
\r\nFemale homosexuality and sexual acts were not addressed in the law, and therefore, they technically would have been legal, though the law often applied the law towards women.","value_formatted":"Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)","end_date_formatted":"Jul 26, 1967","start_date_formatted":"Nov 1, 1861"},{"id":"35","value":"Illegal (death penalty as punishment)","description":"Under the Buggery Act 1533, which recieved Royal Assent from King Henry VIII in 1534, homosexuality in what is now the United Kingdom was punishible by death.
\r\n
\r\nIt was replaced in whole by the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, which carried the same punishment until repealed in 1861.","value_formatted":"Illegal (death penalty as punishment)","end_date_formatted":"Oct 31, 1861","start_date_formatted":"1534"}],"description":"Consensual sexual activity between individuals of the same sex.","label_short":"Homosexuality","current_status":{"id":"1","value":"Legal","description":"The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 repealed all criminal provisions regarding homosexuality; setting an equal age of consent for sexual activity between men.","value_formatted":"Legal","start_date_formatted":"Nov 30, 2000"}},"age-of-consent":{"id":"11","label":"Equal age of consent","history":[{"id":"28","value":"Unequal","description":"A bill was signed to reduce the age of consent for men who have sex with men from 21 to 18.","value_formatted":"Unequal","end_date_formatted":"Jul 31, 2001","start_date_formatted":"1994"},{"id":"28","value":"Unequal","description":"The Sexual Offenses Act made sex between two men legal in 1967*, but it was only legal between consenting men who were 21 or older, whereas the age of consent for different sex couples was 16.
\r\n
\r\n*Sex between more than two men remained illegal until later.","value_formatted":"Unequal","end_date_formatted":"1994","start_date_formatted":"1967"},{"id":null,"value":"na","description":"Sexual activities between two or more men were illegal prior to 1967, and therefore, the age of consent was irrelevant; it was all illegal.","value_formatted":"N\/A","end_date_formatted":"1967"}],"description":"The difference between legal age of consent for homosexual sex and heterosexual sex.","label_short":"Age of Consent","current_status":{"id":"27","value":"Equal","description":"On November 30, 2000 a bill was signed to make the ages of consent equitable, regardless of gender. The law came into effect on August 1, 2001. The age of consent for men who have sex with men was reduced from 18 to 16, on par with different sex individuals.","value_formatted":"Equal","start_date_formatted":"Aug 1, 2001"}},"discrimination":{"id":"6","label":"LGBT discrimination","description":"Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and\/or gender identity.","label_short":"Discrimination","current_status":{"id":"32","value":"Illegal in some contexts","description":"LGBT discrimination in Great Britain is illegal, but Northern Ireland only offers limited anti-discrimination laws.","value_formatted":"Illegal in some contexts","start_date_formatted":"Oct 1, 2010"}},"changing-gender":{"id":"7","label":"Right to change legal gender","description":"Legal recognition of sex reassignment by permitting a change of legal gender on an individual's birth certificate.","label_short":"Changing Gender","current_status":{"id":"62","value":"Legal, but requires medical diagnosis","description":"Legal gender recognition is possible in all four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) as per the Gender Recognition Act (2004, in effect 2005). Section 1 of the law states that \"any person of either gender\" who is aged at least 18 can make an application for \"a gender recognition certificate\" on the basis of— (a) living in the other gender, or (b) having changed gender under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom. These certificates are issued by a Gender Recognition Panel.
\r\nThe law includes the following requirements for obtaining such certificate: (1) a \"gender dysphoria\" diagnosis, proved through two reports (one by a registered medical practitioner or psychologist specialised in gender dysphoria, and another one made by a registered medical practitioner); (2) having lived in the “acquired gender” for two years before filing the application, proved through different means (such as a statutory declaration or documents where their gender identity is stated -i.e. pay slips, benefit documentation, bank statements, utility bills); (3) a statutory declaration showing intention \"to continue to live in the acquired gender until death\"; (4) spousal consent, if the applicant is married or in a civil partnership (partner must consent to the marriage or partnership continuing after the issue of the full gender recognition certificate).","value_formatted":"Legal, but requires medical diagnosis","start_date_formatted":"Apr 4, 2005"}},"conversion-therapy":{"id":"14","label":"Conversion therapy","description":"Legal status of conducting sexual orientation changing therapy (\"ex-gay\" therapy)","label_short":"Conversion Therapy","current_status":{"id":"49","value":"Not banned","description":"According to ILGA, laws in force in United Kingdom do not regulate or restrict sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression change efforts (SOGIECE), regularly known as “conversion therapies”.
\r\n
\r\nConversion therapy ban has been discussed for many years. Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ban conversion therapy in July 2020 and this was reiterated in the 2021 Queen's Speech. In March 2022, the plans were dropped, only for a partial U-turn just hours later when the government announced that the ban would go ahead but not cover trans people.
\r\n
\r\nOn January 17 2023, the government announced they'd pass a new law to include transgender people in the conversion therapy ban.
\r\n
\r\nSince 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has failed to comment on actually banning practices of Conversion therapy. He is known to be Anti-LGBTQ, and preaches \"Save the kids\" ","value_formatted":"Not banned"}},"housing-discrimination":{"id":"13","label":"LGBT housing discrimination","description":"Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and\/or gender identity when applying for housing or discrimination by landlords \/ property owners.","label_short":"Housing Discrimination","current_status":{"id":"45","value":"Sexual orientation and gender identity","description":"For Local Authorities they would be bound by Equality Act 2010 and have a duty under Public Sector Equality Duty. For private landlords would be bound by Equality Act 2010","value_formatted":"Sexual orientation and gender identity","start_date_formatted":"Oct 1, 2010"}},"employment-discrimination":{"id":"12","label":"LGBT employment discrimination","description":"Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and\/or gender identity in employment, including hiring, promotion, termination, harassment, etc.","label_short":"Employment Discrimination","current_status":{"id":"42","value":"Sexual orientation and gender identity","description":"Employment discrimination protections in the UK stem from several peices of legislation, which were combined into the wide-ranging Equality Act 2010. There are, however, exemptions for certain occupations (such as religious organisations).","value_formatted":"Sexual orientation and gender identity","start_date_formatted":"Oct 1, 2010"}},"non-binary-gender-recognition":{"id":"16","label":"Legal recognition of non-binary gender","description":"Legal recognition of non-binary, genderqueer, or third gender identities.","label_short":"Non-binary gender recognition","current_status":{"id":"58","value":"Not legally recognized","description":"In 2021 the UK government said (in response to a petition) that legal recognition of non-binary gender identity would have \"complex practical consequences for other areas of the law, service provision and public life\", and said that they felt existing legislation allowing people to change their legal gender went far enough. Courts have, however, ruled that people with non-binary identities are protected from discrimination by the Equality Act. On 4 October 2023, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asserted his stance on gender identity in a speech Wednesday, stating it was “common sense” that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”. ","value_formatted":"Not legally recognized","start_date_formatted":"Feb 10, 2004"}}},"group_trips":[]},"editorials":[],"custom_pages_attach":[],"venues":[],"hotels":[],"today_events":[],"menu_page":[],"tomorrow_events":[],"events":[],"custom_pages":null},"gtag":{"content1":"Gay United Kingdom","content3":"Gay Tyne & Wear","content5":"gay-tyne-and-wear"},"meta":{"country":"United Kingdom","countryCode":"GB"}}},"page":"\/destination\/[slug]\/[state]","query":{"slug":"gay-united-kingdom","state":"gay-tyne-and-wear"},"buildId":"OsApFSLZ5WFL4r8Il-9Ff","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[34862,67114,78385,57560,14623,91932],"gssp":true,"appGip":true,"scriptLoader":[{"id":"gtm-tag","strategy":"lazyOnload","defer":true,"async":true,"children":"(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':\n new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],\n j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.defer=true;j.src=\n 'https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);\n })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-PH3GGMS');"}]}