ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
26
way issues have been prioritised:
those important to privileged LGBT
people have been defined as “gay
rights” issues; meanwhile, issues
affecting marginalised LGBT people
have been viewed as concerns that
are “not gay rights issues”. This
dynamic has occurred in large part
because the LGBT rights movement
has not been strongly linked with
activist movements fighting against
racism, sexism and social class
inequality – which all affect LGBT
people.
There’s significant evidence that
transgender people – especially
minority trans women – experience
higher rates of violence than
lesbians and gay men. For example,
the National Coalition of Anti-
Violence Programs found that 72%
of all anti-LGBT homicide victims
in 2013 were transgender women.
And of the 22 transgender people
murdered this year, 86% were black
or Latina transgender women.
Despite these higher rates of
violenceamongtransgenderpeople,
attention has traditionally fixated on
homophobic violence. In hoping to
sell the seriousness of homophobic
violence to mainstream society, the
experiences of white and middle-
class gay men such as Matthew
Shepard and Tyler Clementi have
been prioritised.
The emphasis on the plight of white,
male gays comes at a cost: the
predominant values of mainstream
society – whiteness, the middle-
class, maleness – remain idealised
and unchallenged.
Meanwhile, other LGBT people –
the most marginalised members of
our communities – have been left
behind.
24 November 2015
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Trust (UK) Limited
Legal equality
S
ince Stonewall was founded
in
1989,
we’ve
seen
amazing legal changes
for LGBT equality in the UK.
This is good news for everyone,
because changing laws to ban
discrimination against people
makes it clear that homophobia,
biphobia and transphobia are not
acceptable. It helps to change
attitudes so that other people in
society welcome LGBT people as
equals. There is still a lot of work
to be done, particularly for trans
people’s rights.
Some important legal
changes that have
affected LGBT people
in the UK
2000: Government lifts the
ban on lesbians and gay
men serving in the Armed
Forces.
Before 2000, gay and lesbian
people could not serve in the
Armed Forces. They would have to
keep their sexual orientation secret
or they could be fired.
2001: Age of consent for
gay/bi men is lowered to 16.
Sex between men was illegal until
1967, when the Sexual Offences
Act came into force making it legal
for men aged 21 or above. In 1994
that age was lowered to 18 and in
2001 it was lowered again to 16 –
making it the same as the age of
consent for straight people.
2002: Equal rights are
granted to same-sex
couples applying for
adoption.
Before this neither same-sex
couples nor unmarried straight
couples could adopt or foster
children.
2003: Repeal of Section 28.
Section 28 was a law that made
it illegal to talk positively about
homosexuality in schools. This
meant that teachers were not
able to support lesbian, gay and
bi students or provide resources
about different sexualities. The law
came into force in 1988 and a year
later in 1989, Stonewall was set up
to fight it. In 2003 the legislation
was repealed which meant that
schools were finally able to support
their lesbian, gay and bi students.
2003: A new law comes
into force protecting LGBT
people from discrimination
at work.
Until 2003, employers could
discriminate
against
LGBT
people by not hiring them or not
promoting them, just because of
their sexual orientation or gender
identity. LGBT people didn’t have
much protection from bullying and
sometimes they weren’t offered the
same benefits as other colleagues,
or were unfairly affected by rules
at work. The Employment Equality
Regulations made all these kinds
of discrimination illegal.
2004: Civil Partnership Act
is passed.
Before this there was no
legal recognition of same-sex
relationships. Civil partnerships
give same-sex couples the same
legal rights as married couples.
They allow same-sex couples to
make the same public declaration
of their love and commitment that
other couples do when they get
married.
2004: Gender Recognition
Act is passed.
Fought for by the organisation
Press For Change, this Act allowed
trans people to change their legal
gender. This means that they can
get a new birth certificate that
reflects who they really are, which
helps for future legal processes
like marriage.
2005: The Criminal Justice
Act gives courts power to
give tougher sentences for
homophobic crimes.
Until 2005 if a person was attacked
for being gay or because the
