In practice, the law was used broadly to prosecute male homosexuals where actual sodomy (meaning, in this context, anal intercourse) could not be proven.
[1] The Offences against the Person Act 1861 specifically lowered the capital punishment for sodomy to life imprisonment, which continued until 1967.
Private homosexual activity, though stigmatised and demonised, was somewhat safer during this time; the prosecution had to prove penetration had actually occurred.
Henry Labouchere, Liberal MP for Northampton, had been a diplomat; he now was the founding editor of Truth magazine, which had its selling point in exposing corruption and degeneration.
Sir Howard Vincent, director of criminal investigations at Scotland Yard from 1878 to 1884, called homosexual acts a modern "scourge".
The Yokel's Preceptor, a contemporary magazine, said this: The increase of these monsters in the shape of men, commonly designated margeries, poofs etc., of late years, in the great Metropolis, renders it necessary for the safety of the public that they should be made known… Will the reader credit it, but such is nevertheless the fact, that these monsters actually walk the street the same as the whores, looking out for a chance?
In 1881, 1884, and 1885, John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie introduced criminal law amendment bills "for the Protection of Women and Girls [and] suppression of brothels" (as their long title stated).
In July, Pall Mall Gazette editor W. T. Stead was imprisoned for writing and publishing The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, a series of articles which caused a moral panic by showing the ease with which young girls could be "bought" on the street.
Frank Harris, a contemporary, wrote that Labouchere proposed it as a wrecking amendment to make the law seem "ridiculous" and thus discredit it in its entirety; some historians agree,[which?]
citing Labouchere's habitual obstructionism and other attempts to sink this bill by the same means, while others write that his role in calling for more investigation into the Cleveland Street [male brothel] scandal places into context a sincere attempt to change the law permanently, stipulating more robust controls against male homosexuality.
He noted that reference to being "party to the commission of" gross indecency served essentially as a conspiracy charge, allowing for a broader pool of convictions.
The action was urged by Queensberry's son Lord Alfred Douglas, who reluctantly fled to France at the time to avoid possible arrest.
[13] After prison, Wilde would condemn the Criminal Law Amendment Act, predicting that the battle against it would be a "road… long and red with monstrous martyrdoms."
Instead of prison, he opted for oestrogen injection hormone "therapy" for a year, slightly feminising the body and losing sexual urges.
He was pardoned posthumously by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 at the request of justice minister Chris Grayling, following a petition campaign.