Sexual Offences Act
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This may refer to several bills passed by the United Kingdom Parliament:
- The Sexual Offences Act 1967, decriminalised most acts of homosexuality in England and Wales between males over the age of 21. It was a very controversial Act at the time, as homosexuality was still largely regarded as immoral. Also, it can be noted that although a lot of homosexual offences were legalised, they were still very closely monitored and restricted. For example, Section 1 of the Act states that "a homosexual act in private shall not be an offence provided that the parties consent thereto and have attained the age of twenty-one years". Heterosexual acts were legal from the age of sixteen and it was argued that the law was still very discriminative. Also, the words "in private" under the Act meant that there couldn't be more than two people present (unlike heterosexual acts) which led to the famous conviction of the Bolton 7 in 1998, it also meant that sex and couldn't take place in a public lavatory.
- The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, only the third act passed since 1949 by the British House of Commons without the House of Lords' consent;
- The Sexual Offences Act 2003, which revised various sexual offences, and also created new offences
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