Sex between men became legal in the England and Wales in 1967* with an age of consent of 21. That stayed the case for nearly thirty years but by the mid 1990s pressure for change finally hit boiling point and the House of Commons voted on a series of proposals for reform.
The first vote, for an age of consent of 16 – the same as that for sex between men and women or between two women – fell by a handful of votes, and the next proposal to be put was for a reduction from 21 to 18.
Eighteen won enough support and so sex between men was now legal at a younger age, though still with many discriminatory requirements and a higher age of consent than for other people. Had 18 not passed the next motion to be put was for equality at 17 – raising the age of consent for many people by a year. What age you pick is something of an arbitrary line in the sand, after all, but we suspect news of an increase in the age of consent would not have been popular in the tabloids the next day.
One aspect not widely noted about the vote was that it introduced an age of consent for anal sex between men and women, also at 18 – prior to the 1994 vote that had still been illegal in the UK. As well as lowering one age of consent, it introduced another.
The campaign had been fractious to say the least – including division on whether campaigning in favour of 18 was worthwhile as a kind of “half pregnant” approach to equality, with popular pin badges at the time reading “16 or bust”.
It would be another six years before an equal age of consent was won.
* in Scotland 1980, Northern Ireland 1982.
