Why was homosexuality leagalised, was there a study into sexuality that promped the change?

Question

Nobody bother accusing me of bigotry or homophobism, this is meant to be a serious, intelligent question!

Answer 1

Well, let me answer that briefly -- homosexuality at various times historically has been legal and illegal -- this is not new, I hope it will be the last cycle, but it may not be.

For this country there have been many studies, but the change began with the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 -- gays had never fought back in America before -- and it brought a lot of attention to the fact that there were more of them than people thought -- thus reinforcing the Kinsey study from the 1950s that pointed out that there were more of them than anyone thought -- and also pointed out that they didn't seem as deranged as prior psychological writings had suggested -- in fact many seemed normal. In 1973 the Executive board of the American Psychological Association tried to drop homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses (something that the extremists now want to reverse) the conservatives forced them to take a vote, rather than simply change the book (the first time a vote was ever taken when research supported a decision to change a classification) -- over 60% of psychologists in the US voted that homosexuality was not an illness -- and it was removed from the list.

After that its been a steady struggle, but decriminalization was very widespread before the supreme court overturned sodomy laws nationally for all states that still had them.

Thank you for asking.

Regards,

Reynolds Jones
http://www.rebuff.org
[e-mail]

Answer 2

I don't believe that homosexuality was ever illegal. Why would it be? It's has become much more socially acceptable and will continue to do so as people evolve and stop being so afraid of what is different. Fear is always the culprit of a society that degrades a certain sect of people who are not what they believe the norm should be. At one time, thousands of years ago, society used to stone to death those who had leprosy – I don’t see that happening now. Usually when something is deemed illegal it is because it harms or could harm someone in another way – without their consent. I don’t see how homosexuality falls into that category. Laws are in place to keep society in some form of general order – common sense should tell you not to kill, steal, hurt children, or even speed excessively. It’s all pretty basic. However sexuality is NOT basic, simple or changeable. It has been proven that homosexuality exists in every animal species on this planet. How could, say, a penguin make a so called moral decision to not be “gay”? They simply do what comes naturally. If you are really concerned about homosexuals then do some research, go meet some, make some friends and then make your judgment if you need to. You may find some really great, honest, smart, beautiful people – that really need no judgment at all.

Answer 3

Some states have sodomy laws, but for the most part, those laws have been repelled.
As for homosexuality, there is nothing criminal about it when it involves consent, just like heterosexuality. I won't get into the age of consent stuff, since I assume that's obvious.
The only major change, in my opinion, is not so much legal, but medical, since the American Psychological Association did remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in the 70s (I think!). That's a huge step in gaining acceptance, yet I know it won't change bigotry.

Answer 4

Homosexuality has never been illegal. The Government isnt going to tell you which gender your allowed to like. Gay marriage is only legal in a few states I beleive due to a bunch of "Good willing Christians".

And for the other part, scientists have done many researches into homosexuality and they have found nothing that seperates them from Heterosexual men . BUT they did find out that you are 10% more likely to be gay if you have two or more older brothers.

Answer 5

Homosexuality exists whether it's legal or not. You mean why was homosex. *behavior* legalized.

There have been gazillions of studies, but the possibly most influential of them all was done by Kinsey. Try looking that up, or see the movie.

There was no "sudden law" (in the US) that legalized same-sex relationships. It was the accumulation of decades of experience and evidence, and the slow legal recognition that there was no basis in law to criminalize the behavior ... that the existing laws were discriminatory.

Actually the word 'homosexual' is only about 125 years old. People just didn't get all that frantic about it before then. I guess they tended to MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS before that.

Not that I'm not glad that all kinds of people are coming to this forum. As long as they're respectful with their questions.

Answer 6

Certain criminal cases in the 1950s brought homosexuality to the public eye and generated sympathy and opposition to laws agains two consenting adult males having sex. Charges were dropped.

A report of a departmental committee on the issue (the Wolfenden Report) recommended that sex between two consenting adult males should be decriminalised, and the Archbishop of Canterbury even agreed with this.

It took a long time to happen, but the Sexual Offences Act was passed in 1967 and certain activities between two men were decriminalised, but the age of consent was set at 21. The age of consent was finally equalised a few years ago (I think it was 2002), but only because the European Court of Human Rights had to make the UK equalise it.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

It is a serious and intelligent question. Only by understanding the history of sexuality (how society has viewed sex) can we hope to free ourselves from contemporary prejudices.
The legal status of homosexuality has always differed from country to country. For example, under the Code Napoleon (The great reform of French Law overseen by Napoleon in 1802) sexual acts between consenting adults (over 18) in private have been "legal" in France and other countries that adopted the code (Italy, Louisiana, etc.) However, the "Anglo-Saxon countries (England, Germany, most U.S. states) enacted more severe "sex" laws in the 19th c. ( in fact the term, homosexuality, was "invented" by a journalist writing against one of these new laws in Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Maria_Kertbeny ) Although they were some early studies conducted by sex researchers like Mangus Hirschfeld ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Hirschfeld ) in Germany, in his attempt to promote the repeal of paragraph 175 (the German law against homosexuality,) these were reports done by researchers and not from a legal standpoint. I think the report you are looking for is the famous Wolfenden report to the British Parliament ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenden_report ) This report, done in the late 50's recommended "decriminalizing" homosexuality on a number of grounds. It was passed into law in 1969. This led directly to a movement in the U.S. to remove "sex" laws from the books. Although by 1972 a majority of states had passed similar laws
( making sexual acts between consenting adults (over 18) in private legal) a number of states maintained sodomy laws until the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional in 2003. However, there remain many places in the world where homosexuality is still "criminalized" and people pay the price every day ( http://www.sodomylaws.org/ ) Anyway, thank you for asking your question.

Answer 9

I don't believe that being gay was ever illegal. Some homosexual acts have been though. But between consenting adults, these caused no harm to anyone, so why should they be outlawed?

There's still some stupid sodomy laws around the world, that are completely based on religion. Either making it illegal, or increasing the age of consent from that of other sexual acts. It really makes no sense, and stops proper health information regarding sex between young gay men (and woman) being available.

Answer 10

Because it was finally realised that it involved some 10% of the population and was natural and harmed nobody else. Nice to give the Christians and other religious bigots a lesson in humility as well.