History of violence against LGBTQ people in the United Kingdom
It was established during the reign of Henry VIII, and was the first civil legislation applicable against sodomy in the country, such offences having previously been dealt with by ecclesiastical courts.
Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal treatment designed to reduce his libido.
On 31 July 1950, in Rotherham, an English schoolteacher, Kenneth Crowe, aged 37, was found dead wearing his wife's clothes and a wig.
It maintained the general prohibitions on buggery and indecency between men, but provided for a limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts where three conditions were fulfilled.
The Sexual Offences Act 1967 extended only to England and Wales, and not to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, where all homosexual behaviour remained illegal.
In July 1990, following these murders, hundreds of lesbians and gay men marched from the park where Boothe had been killed to Ealing Town Hall and held a candlelit vigil.
[7] In May 1999, the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub in Soho was bombed by former British National Party member David Copeland, killing three people and wounding at least 70.
[8][9] On 27 November 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service announced a 'zero tolerance' approach towards perpetrators of anti-gay offences; this also covers crimes against transgender people.
'"[11] The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is passed, in which section 146 empowers courts in England and Wales to impose tougher sentences for offences motivated or aggravated by the victim's sexual orientation.
The report found that some police inquiries were hampered by lack of knowledge, reliance on unfounded stereotypes and personal prejudices; these problems were mirrored and exacerbated by media coverage.
The review recognised that Scotland Yard's work with the gay, lesbian and transsexual communities and its investigative processes had improved significantly since the 1990s, but warned that more radical steps were needed.
The cases reviewed, and the findings, included: Damilola Taylor was attacked by a local gang of youths on 27 November 2000 in Peckham, south London; he bled to death after being stabbed with a broken bottle in the thigh, which severed the femoral artery.
BBC News, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Independent newspapers reported at the time that during the weeks between arriving in the UK from Nigeria and the attack he had been subjected to bullying and beating, which included homophobic remarks by a group of boys at his school.
"[24] In the New Statesman two years later, when there had still been no convictions for the crime, Peter Tatchell, gay human rights campaigner, said, "In the days leading up to his murder in south London in November 2000, he was subjected to vicious homophobic abuse and assaults,"[25] and asked why the authorities had ignored this before and after his death.
In July 2005, Lauren Harries, a trans woman, was attacked along with her father and brother in their home in Cardiff by eight youths who shouted the word "tranny" while beating their victims.
One youth pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to two years probation; his accomplices were not formally identified or charged.
Rev Dr Barry Rathbone was sitting in a park in Bournemouth, Dorset when Martin Powell and his girlfriend approached and spoke to him.
His attacker, Neil Bibby, also from Preston, was sentenced to 200 hours' unpaid work, a three-month weekend curfew, and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation after he pleaded guilty to assault.
[34] In September 2009, 62-year-old Ian Baynham was attacked outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square in London by three youths shouting homophobic abuse.
[36] In 2012, Giovanna Del Nord, a 46-year-old trans woman, was attacked minutes after entering The Market Tavern, a pub in Leicester city centre.
[38] In June 2012, Steven Simpson, an autistic, openly gay 18-year-old, had homophobic slurs written on his body and was set on fire at his birthday party by Jordan Sheard, 20, who was sentenced to 31⁄2 years in jail in March 2013.
[39] A vigil was held for Simpson in Sheffield on 9 April 2013,[40] and gay rights organisation Stonewall successfully wrote to the Attorney General asking for a review of the case.
[44] In December 2018, it was reported that according to data from Freedom of Information responses received from 38 police forces across England, Scotland and Wales, Merseyside has the highest rate of recorded homophobic hate crimes.
Reportedly, four teenagers (ages 15–18) began harassing the pair after discovering their couplehood, proceeding to ask them to kiss, making sexual gestures, discussing sex positions, and throwing coins.
[48][49] In 2021, David Iwo, 23, was given a life sentence for the murder of a 69-year-old retiree, former Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Martin Decker, with a hammer.
Iwo advertised his services for sex online and tricked Decker into arranging a meeting at his flat in Vyner Croft, Prenton, on 6 March 2021.
