Amendments to the Protections of Freedoms Bill tabled by the government will erase old convictions for consensual homosexual sex and loitering with intent.
Once the bill is passed, men with previous convictions will be able to apply to have them erased from their criminal record. At the moment these convictions have to be declared when applying for a job or voluntary role that requires a CRB check.
Gay sex was only legalised in England and Wales in 1967, with the age of consent set at 21. This was reduced to 18 in 1994 and only changed to 16, the same as the age of consent between different-sex partners, in 2000. The changes didn’t affect existing convictions, meaning thousands of men were left with convictions for crimes that don’t exist, and should never have been illegal anyway.
Stonewall have long campaigned for the change to the law, and gave evidence to the Public Bill Committee considering the Protection of Freedoms Bill on 24 March 2011.
Chief Executive Ben Summerskill commented
“For some gay men, these convictions have continued to overshadow their lives long after the offences were removed from the statute book. Britain has moved on. It’s only right that these men should be free to apply for jobs and voluntary roles without fearing that these historic and unjust convictions will be revealed through criminal record checks.”
The bill is still to be passed – you can encourage your MP to support it by visiting this site.
Louise
Once the bill is passed, men with previous convictions will be able to apply to have them erased from their criminal record. At the moment these convictions have to be declared when applying for a job or voluntary role that requires a CRB check.
Gay sex was only legalised in England and Wales in 1967, with the age of consent set at 21. This was reduced to 18 in 1994 and only changed to 16, the same as the age of consent between different-sex partners, in 2000. The changes didn’t affect existing convictions, meaning thousands of men were left with convictions for crimes that don’t exist, and should never have been illegal anyway.
Stonewall have long campaigned for the change to the law, and gave evidence to the Public Bill Committee considering the Protection of Freedoms Bill on 24 March 2011.
Chief Executive Ben Summerskill commented
“For some gay men, these convictions have continued to overshadow their lives long after the offences were removed from the statute book. Britain has moved on. It’s only right that these men should be free to apply for jobs and voluntary roles without fearing that these historic and unjust convictions will be revealed through criminal record checks.”
The bill is still to be passed – you can encourage your MP to support it by visiting this site.
Louise
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