Anaya Nolan
In 1533, Henry VIII introduced the Buggery Act, the first civil sodomy law in England, which made buggery a capital offence. The term buggery was not defined in the text of the legislation but was later interpreted by the courts to include anal penetration and bestiality. The act was repealed in 1828 and replaced by the Offences Against the Person Act, which continued to criminalise buggery. Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861, although the last executions took place in 1835. Over time, the law has been used to target sexual activities between individuals of the same sex, particularly men, and it was not until 1967 that homosexual acts in private between consenting adults over the age of 21 were decriminalised in England and Wales.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year of enactment | 1533 |
| Enacted by | Henry VIII |
| Punishment | Hanging |
| Year of repeal | 1828 |
| Year hanging was abolished as punishment | 1861 |
| Year buggery laws were repealed for England and Wales | 1967 |
| Year of the last execution | 1835 |
| Offences covered | Anal penetration and bestiality |
| Offenders | Men and women |
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What You'll Learn
Buggery Act 1533
The Buggery Act of 1533, or "An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie", was the first civil sodomy law in England. The act was passed during the reign of Henry VIII and was piloted through Parliament by his minister Thomas Cromwell. It was the first law to criminalise sexual activity between men.
The term "buggery" was not defined in the text of the legislation, but the courts later interpreted it to include anal penetration and bestiality, regardless of the sex of the participants. The act was used to punish "the detestable and abominable Vice of Buggery committed with Mankind or Beast", with offenders facing the death penalty. The act also allowed the government to confiscate a convicted sodomite's possessions.
The first execution under the Buggery Act took place on 28 July 1540, when Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford, was beheaded on Tower Hill, London. Hungerford was accused of treason, practising witchcraft, and buggery with his servants. The charges were likely politically motivated to undermine Hungerford and Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, who was executed on the same day.
The Buggery Act remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Offences Against the Person Act 1828. Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861, although the last executions under the act took place in 1835. The Sexual Offences Act 1967 further decriminalised private, consensual sex between men over the age of 21 in England and Wales.
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Homosexuality legalisation in 1967
The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 decriminalised private, consensual sexual acts between men over the age of 21 in England and Wales. The act, which received royal assent on 27 July 1967, was one of several liberal social reforms passed under Wilson's government, including the legalisation of abortion, the relaxation of divorce laws, the abolition of theatre censorship, and the abolition of capital punishment.
The 1967 Act was the first gay law reform since 1533, when anal sex was made a crime during Henry VIII's reign, and all other sexual acts between men were outlawed in 1885. The 1967 legislation repealed the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for anal sex, but it did not delete the offences of buggery and gross indecency, and the age of consent for homosexual males remained higher than that for heterosexuals.
Homosexuality remained illegal in the Merchant Navy and the Armed Forces, as well as in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where it was not decriminalised until 1980 and 1982, respectively. Even after 1967, men were still imprisoned for consensual, adult homosexual offences, and anti-gay laws were enforced more aggressively by the state. An estimated 15,000+ gay men were convicted in the decades following the 1967 Act, and from 1885 to 2013, nearly 100,000 men were arrested for same-sex acts.
It was not until 2003 that the UK government brought the law into compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, removing privacy requirements relating to same-sex male sexual activity and repealing most of the 1967 Act. In 2013, the UK issued a royal pardon for men convicted under anti-gay laws, and in 2022, it became possible to apply for convictions and cautions for most homosexual offences to be disregarded.
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Sodomy laws
In the UK, sodomy laws have been repealed. However, the road to decriminalisation was a long one, with many laws and amendments targeting homosexual acts over the centuries.
The Buggery Act of 1533, introduced by Henry VIII, was the country's first civil sodomy law, making buggery (interpreted by courts to include anal penetration and bestiality) a capital offence. The act was repealed in 1553 but was re-enacted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1562. The last two men to be hanged for sodomy under this act were executed in 1835. The punishment for buggery was reduced from hanging to life imprisonment by the Offences against the Person Act of 1861.
In 1885, Henry Labouchere introduced a clause to the Criminal Law Amendment Act that outlawed "gross indecency" between men, leading to further confusion and the criminalisation of consensual same-sex acts. In 1895, Oscar Wilde was found guilty of violating this act and spent two years in prison.
Following the Wolfenden report of 1957, which asserted that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence", sexual acts between two adult males were made legal in England and Wales in 1967, in Scotland in 1980, Northern Ireland in 1982, and the UK Crown Dependencies of Guernsey in 1983, Jersey in 1990, and the Isle of Man in 1992, respectively.
While sodomy laws in the UK have been repealed, it is important to note that the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance is ongoing, with many individuals still facing discrimination and marginalisation.
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Lesbianism not illegal in the UK
Lesbianism has never been a civilian offence in the United Kingdom. However, lesbian women serving in the military could be penalised under provisions contained in the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955, and the Naval Discipline Act 1957. There was no legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Britain until 2005, following the legalisation of civil partnerships in 2004.
While lesbianism has never been a specific criminal offence, there have been prosecutions of women for lesbian relationships since at least the end of the 17th century. In the 18th century, there were a few cases where apparently heterosexual couples married, but the 'husband' was later discovered to be legally female. These individuals were punished for financial fraud because a woman's possessions became her husband's property upon marriage. However, since most of the 'wives' in these cases were working-class and poor, financial fraud was likely not the true motive for prosecution. These cases disappeared in the 19th century as lesbianism became a more taboo topic.
In 2023, the UK government announced that pardons would be available for women "convicted of homosexuality". This was likely influenced by the 2009 state apology and 2013 royal pardon of mathematician and Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing, who was convicted in 1952 for gross indecency with another man.
Today, lesbian couples in the UK have equal birth rights, with both mothers allowed to be named on their child's birth certificate. Additionally, lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are allowed to serve openly in the police force, with the Lesbian and Gay Police Association (LAGPA) founded in 1990 to represent their interests. Pride parades have also been used as a platform for the LGBT community to publicly assert their identity, resist discrimination, and demand legal changes to end LGBTQ+ oppression.
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Decriminalisation in former colonies
The UK's anti-LGBTQ legacy is still felt in its former colonies, with many anti-sodomy laws still in place today. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), drawn up by British historian Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, is one example. The IPC came into force in 1862 and contained Section 377, which stated that:
> "whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" would be punished with imprisonment or fines.
This section was based on Britain's 16th-century Buggery Act, and it has had a significant impact on the region, with at least one billion people living under anti-LGBTQ legislation before India legalised homosexual sex in 2018. Section 377 continues to exist in various forms in several former colonies in Asia, including Pakistan, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
Singapore and Kenya have used the repeal of Section 377 in India as a legal argument against their own colonial anti-homosexuality laws. Activists in these countries have been emboldened by India's move to strike down the law that was once exported across Asia. This demonstrates the ongoing impact and influence of British colonial law in shaping the legal landscape of its former colonies.
In addition to Asia, colonial-era laws that ban homosexuality continue to exist in former British territories in parts of Africa and Oceania. These laws were imposed by British colonizers, who viewed indigenous cultures as sexually corrupt and believed that homosexuality was a form of moral contagion. The criminalization of homosexuality in these contexts, therefore, served as a means to defend against perceived corruption and maintain a sense of moral superiority.
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Frequently asked questions
Buggery is a term used to describe certain sexual acts that are considered crimes under sodomy laws. While the term is not always defined explicitly in legal texts, it typically includes anal sex, oral sex, manual sex, and bestiality.
Buggery was previously a criminal offence in the UK under the Buggery Act 1533, which was the country's first civil sodomy law. The act made buggery a capital offence, punishable by death. However, in 1967, the UK Parliament repealed buggery laws for England and Wales, decriminalising private, consensual homosexual acts between adults over the age of 21.
The Buggery Act 1533 was introduced by Henry VIII and made buggery "the detestable and abominable vice of buggery committed with mankind or beast" a capital offence. The act was not designed to police sexual activity but rather to transfer canon law to civil law, reducing the power of the church.
Buggery remained a capital offence in England and Wales until the enactment of the Offences against the Person Act in 1861. However, the last executions for buggery in England took place in 1835.
While private, consensual homosexual acts between adults have been decriminalised in the UK, there are still laws against certain public homosexual acts. For example, there are laws against having sex in public lavatories, which continue to be enforced today. Additionally, convictions for historical homosexual offences still have legal implications.
