Do lesbians exist?

In the 1960's the epithet "homo" clearly referred only to men. Most of the UK was still living by the "Ladies do not do that sort of thing" attitude of Queen Victoria. The 1967 changes in the law applied only to men.

The "Age of Consent" section on the Stonewall website says that the age of consent is equal for all - gay men, lesbians and heterosexuals, but does not refer to any statement in the law which mentions that lesbian sex has been recognised.

The age of consent for lesbians, before and after the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 was 16, but 16 because lesbians are women, not because the women involved are lesbian.
The explanatory notes for the 2000 Act say "This equalises the age of consent for sexual activity so that it is the same for male homosexuals as for heterosexuals and lesbians" i.e. it is the situation for gay men which has been changed, but not the situation for heterosexuals and lesbians.

The use of the word "lesbian" in the explanatory notes is a way of saying "this is what it means in practice", but the notes are not part of the Act. The Act contains no use of the words "lesbian, woman or women", but the section referring to the age of consent repeatedly uses "he".

A factsheet produced by the FPA says that until the 2003 Sexual Offences Act there was no age of consent for lesbian sex laid down in statute, but ..... on examining the 2003 Act it seems the FPA document is making statements on inference rather than actuality. In the 51 pages of the Act, the 48 pages of the Notification and Orders and the 44 pages of Explanatory Notes, there is no reference to lesbians or consensual same-sex activity between women.

The Civil Registration of Partnership legislation clearly recognises female same-sex couples. This probably means that the letter of the law now says "Yes, lesbians exist", but lesbian sex does not. This may come as a surprise to many women in Nottingham.