Sub-sections (1) and (4) made "buggery" and "gross indecency" between men offences if one or both of the parties is under sixteen and also if the acts were committed "elsewhere than in private."

The meaning of this was defined in Section 10: not in private meant that "more than two persons are present" or that the location is "any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise.

"[7][8] In 2021, the "more than two persons are present" specification was deleted, and the language prohibiting "indecent exposure" and "sexual activity in a public place" was made gender-neutral.

[2] The Isle of Man's Chief Minister Howard Quayle has issued an "unqualified apology" to gay men convicted of same-sex offences under previous Manx laws.

He made the comments as a bill, which will see men convicted of consensual homosexual offences pardoned, had its final reading in the House of Keys.

[18] In August 2022, on the 30th anniversary of homosexuality being decriminalised the police commissioner on the Isle of Man - also formally apologised for enforcement of the anti-gay laws up until 1992.

[25] On 9 June 2015, Chief Minister Allan Bell announced his intention to repeal the law barring same-sex marriage on the island.

[26] Following public consultation on the issue, a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in the Isle was introduced to House of Keys on 2 February 2016.

[39] By the Civil Partnership Act 2011 (c. 2), same-sex couples in the Isle of Man have been granted equal access to full joint or stepchild adoption since 6 April 2011.

[40][41] Under the Employment Act 2006 (c. 21), which took effect on 1 September 2006, the Isle of Man adopted legislation which made it unlawful to dismiss employees on the grounds of their sexual orientation.

[44] In 2013, after a highly publicised case on the island involving a lesbian couple who were not allowed to rent a house by a church leader, Chief Minister Alan Bell announced that legislation to outlaw all forms of discrimination in goods and services would be introduced.

[45] A draft bill, based on the British Equality Act 2010, would replace all existing anti-discrimination laws into one piece of legislation.

[58][59] The Equality Act 2017 (Manx: Slattys Cormid 2017) lists age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation as protected characteristics and grounds of non-discrimination.

[59] In July 2022, community consultation progressed that would soon introduce a hate crime bill within the Isle of Man - that explicitly includes "sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status and gender reassignment".