"You're all legal now"

This was the view of many people after the Sexual Offences Act was passed in 1967. Things were not that simple. Yes, you were no longer imprisoned if you had sex with a consenting male adult (that’s over 21) in private (that’s not in a hotel) …. though make sure you didn’t live in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Lesbians were not mentioned in the Act as the law didn’t recognise their existence.

Not a lot changed on the legal front for over 30 years after the 1967 Act. You could still be thrown out of the armed forces until 1999; you could still be sacked simply for being lesbian or gay until 2003; any partnership you were in was denied any legal support until 2005.
Here we are in 2007 in a position where nearly all of the laws which discriminated against lesbians and gay men have been swept away … though changing the attitudes of many parts of society will take a lot longer.

What we should remember is that for LGB people living in some other parts of the world, the situation is still horrific.

The following countries retain the death penalty as punishment:

Mauritania; Sudan; Iran; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen; Chechnya.

The following countries can impose prison terms -the maximum duration in years is listed:

Algeria (3); Benin (3); Botswana (7); Cameroon (5); Eritrea (3); Ethiopia (3); Gambia (14); Guinea (3); Kenya (14); Libya (5); Malawi (14); Mauritius (3): Morocco (3); Mozambique (3); Nigeria (14); Senegal (5); Sierra Leone (life); Somalia (3); Tanzania (life); Togo (3); Tunisia (3); Uganda (life); Zambia (14); Zimbabwe (3); Afghanistan (15); Bahrain (10); Bangladesh (life); Brunei (10); India (life); Kuwait (7); Lebanon (1); Malaysia (20); Myanmar (life); Oman (3); Pakistan (life); Palestine (10); Qatar (5); Singapore (life); South Korea (1); Sri Lanka (10); Syria (3); Turkmenistan (2); Uzbekistan (3); Barbados (life); Grenada (10); Jamaica (10); St. Kitts (10); St Mary’s (10); St. Vincent (10); Trinidad and Tobago (25); Cook Islands (14); Kiribati (14); Marshall Islands (10); Niue (10); Palau (10); New Guinea (14); Samoa (7); Solomon Islands (14); Tokelau (10); Tonga (10); Tuvalu (14); Guyana (life).