 illegal to be gay scotland s history illegal to be gay scotland s history barsha lun 4102021 1133 international lesbian gay bisexual trans and intersex association ilga has regularly placed scotland as being one of europe s most evolved countries in terms of lgbti rights in recent years the ilga s rainbow europe index assesses development in european countries on lgbti equality against a 48point criterion which involves legal protections from employment and services discrimination measures to combat hate crime equality in family law and transgender and intersex people s rights and recognition including samesex marriage and parenting rights scotland first led the index in 2015 and it has remained around the top since then even though the country prides itself as the most progressive one in europe when it comes to gender and sexuality unfortunately it wasn t always so accepting of homosexual males until 1980 homosexuality was prohibited among males in scotland women s samesex interaction was never made illegal and was not prohibited by law scottish culture simply decided to think that lassies did not behave in this manner when the sexual offences act was signed into law on july 27 1967 it only applied to wales and england scotland and northern ireland were left out the historic changes that partly decriminalized homosexuality among two consenting males in private over the age of 21 have already passed 50 years in wales and england however it took scotland 13 years to incorporate the same statute into scots law robin cook who was the mp was one of the influential people to motivate this change in scotland various pressure organizations such as the scottish minorities group filed a lawsuit and took it to the european court of human rights resulting in the criminal justice act 1980 which brought scottish law in line with wales and england scotland has changed dramatically practices and perspectives from the past appear to be unrecognizable in today s world men were charged for importuning which included kissing another guy in a public location consenting sexual behavior in private and talking with another man in a public area the scottish government created a new law that enabled certain homosexual men that have previous convictions which are no longer regarded unlawful expunged from their criminal records following the passage of a new law thousands of homosexual and bisexual men were legally pardoned the scottish parliament too currently boasts the world s highest proportion of openly lesbian gay and bisexual members 78 there are ten openly lesbian gay or bisexual members of the scottish parliament out of a total of 129 it is essential to recognize how far lgbt people in the united kingdom have come since partial decriminalization in england and wales in 1967 while lesbians gays bisexuals and transgender persons are nearly equal in law they continue to experience prejudice all of us have a responsibility to make sure that all lgbt people are welcomed with no exception international lesbian gay bisexual trans and intersex association ilga has regularly placed scotland as being one of europe s most evolved countries in terms of lgbti rights in recent years the ilga s rainbow europe index assesses development in european countries on lgbti equality against a 48point criterion which involves legal protections from employment and services discrimination measures to combat hate crime equality in family law and transgender and intersex people s rights and recognition including samesex marriage and parenting rights scotland first led the index in 2015 and it has remained around the top since then even though the country prides itself as the most progressive one in europe when it comes to gender and sexuality unfortunately it wasn t always so accepting of homosexual males until 1980 homosexuality was prohibited among males in scotland women s samesex interaction was never made illegal and was not prohibited by law scottish culture simply decided to think that lassies did not behave in this manner when the sexual offences act was signed into law on july 27 1967 it only applied to wales and england scotland and northern ireland were left out the historic changes that partly decriminalized homosexuality among two consenting males in private over the age of 21 have already passed 50 years in wales and england however it took scotland 13 years to incorporate the same statute into scots law robin cook who was the mp was one of the influential people to motivate this change in scotland various pressure organizations such as the scottish minorities group filed a lawsuit and took it to the european court of human rights resulting in the criminal justice act 1980 which brought scottish law in line with wales and england scotland has changed dramatically practices and perspectives from the past appear to be unrecognizable in today s world men were charged for importuning which included kissing another guy in a public location consenting sexual behavior in private and talking with another man in a public area the scottish government created a new law that enabled certain homosexual men that have previous convictions which are no longer regarded unlawful expunged from their criminal records following the passage of a new law thousands of homosexual and bisexual men were legally pardoned the scottish parliament too currently boasts the world s highest proportion of openly lesbian gay and bisexual members 78 there are ten openly lesbian gay or bisexual members of the scottish parliament out of a total of 129 it is essential to recognize how far lgbt people in the united kingdom have come since partial decriminalization in england and wales in 1967 while lesbians gays bisexuals and transgender persons are nearly equal in law they continue to experience prejudice all of us have a responsibility to make sure that all lgbt people are welcomed with no exception  