Age of consent for gay men set at 16 at last!
January 2001
In 1998 the House of Lords overturned a Commons vote to reduce the age of consent for gay men to 16 in line with heterosexuals. A battle commenced until in the summer of 2000 the Government threatened to use the Parliament Acts
to override the House of Lords and force the legislation through.
In
response, the House of Lords passed a compromise amendment which kept
the age for buggery at 18 for boys and girls, but left intact the
provisions in the Government Bill which permitted other homosexual acts
at 16.
The Government rejected this discrimatory compromise and invoked the Parliament Acts.
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