Talk:LGBT rights in Scotland

Historical situation

The entry “The United Kingdom Parliament voted to pass the Sexual Offences Act 1967 for the limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts in only England and Wales” is a partial and dishonest account of homosexual law reform in Scotland, seemingly intended to portray Scotland in a good light as being progressive and a leader in LGBT rights by implying that the UK Parliament was to blame for excluding Scotland from the 1967 Act to (partly) decriminalise homosexual acts when the historical record shows it was Scottish civil society together with Scotland’s churches, political leaders and lawmakers, that objected to Scotland’s inclusion in the liberalising Sexual Offences Act 1967.

Historical records clearly show there was wide-ranging opposition across Scotland to the recommendations of the Wolfenden Committee Report on the decriminalisation of homosexuality and it was for THAT reason Scotland was excluded from the Sexual Offences Act 1967 not as stated so misleadingly (deliberately?) in this article.

Throughout the 1970s Scotland’s Police continued to persecute homosexuals. As recently as 1980, Scottish Grampian Police was issuing the following commentary in handbooks to its police officers: “The terms ‘sodomy’, ‘lewd and libidinous practices’ etc where used in law give little indication of the nature of these offences, the manner in which they are usually committed, and the evils they are liable to bring in their train…”

It took Scotland another 13 years to adopt, in 1981 and with obvious reluctance, the liberal reforms that had been enacted in 1967 across England and Wales.

When considered with the fact (stated in this entry) that Scotland was the last country in Europe to abolish the death penalty for homosexual acts it can clearly be seen that Scotland does NOT have a good historical record on LGBT rights.

How can this page be changed to remove the political bias and distortion and state the historical truth?

———————- Regarding historical prosecutions, the reason for the lack of statutes will have been because the charges could be brought under common law. Even when the issue was raised in a modern murder case it was explained [1] "The common law crime of sodomy does not involve the establishment of the absence of consent on the part of the passive agent or catamite. It reflects a former general disapproval of homosexuality and both parties are guilty of the offence (cf. Gordon, Criminal Law 3rd ed., paragraph 34-01.)" Obviously this was subject to a limited (over 21 etc) exception from 1980. The historical case against Bell mentioned could even have been for rape, given there is only one accused man mentioned, unless the other partner was either unavailable or being tried separately. As for 20th century reforms, there is some indication here [2] that there was more of a "public interest" test applied; of course "public interest" is open to interpretation but it seems this might been more along the lines of what a few other countries with notional anti-gay laws later did, meaning things like the Turing and Montague prosecutions might have been less likely to arise.Billwilson5060 (talk) 09:05, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

References

External links modified

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