No homosexual offence pardons since law introduced

There have been no pardons for convictions for now abolished gay sex offences in the eight years since a scheme was introduced in Northern Ireland.

Three people have applied to the pardons and disregards scheme since the laws introduction, however their applications did not meet the relevant criteria.

Offences include gross indecency and procuring others to commit homosexual acts. The activity must have been consensual, with a person aged 17 or over and must not still be an offence.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) said a review of the scope of the scheme is taking place, with a view to making reform proposals to ministers after the next assembly elections.

The scheme was approved by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016 and came into force in 2018.

Posthumous pardons automatically apply to anyone convicted of offences who have since died.

While a definitive number of those convicted has not been formally established, it is estimated that hundreds can apply.

Male homosexual acts were criminalised until 1982 in Northern Ireland.

The Rainbow Project helped some of those who applied for their conviction to be quashed or disregarded.

The charity's chief executive, Scott Cuthbertson, said he is not surprised at the low uptake, but "that doesn't mean the scheme hasn't been a success".

"There's the message it sends that what happened prior to 1982 was wrong and shouldn't have happened and that the people who were convicted under legislation at that point deserve not to have that stain on their record," he said.

"When it comes to the low uptake, I would encourage anyone who has that on their record, who wants to remove it and are maybe a wee bit worried about opening up old wounds or dealing with past issues, it is worth it."

Cuthbertson also welcomed the DoJ's review.

"I think anything that can be done to make people aware of the scheme and increase the uptake of the number of people applying would be a good idea."

Jeffrey Dudgeon, a gay rights campaigner, won a landmark legal case in the European Court which ruled that the law was in breach of the human right to a private life.

He told BBC News NI that he "always knew that there wouldn't be very many people eligible for pardons given the length of time had elapsed since".

"I would say most of the people involved in that had either died or were not really interested in in resurrecting the whole matter."

He said there was a "different mood" in the preceding years before decriminalisation.

"From the late '60s until 1982, which is the period I was mostly involved in, gay liberation had happened in America and in England. The whole mood had changed from being a sort of silent minority that was pleading for decriminalisation and we'd become an organised group looking for rights.

"The big problem always was that most convictions were not exactly within the remit or ambit of the criminal law that was repealed in 1982. Which was very particular in that it was only decriminalised gay sex between men over 21 in private.

"I think a lot of the actual cases that came into the courts involved some form of sex with somebody under 21 or in public or was it with a third party present."

Prof Tom Hulme is a cultural historian of modern Ireland and Britain at Queen's University Belfast.

He said that the history of same sex convictions in Northern Ireland is "quite a complex one" as Victorian laws were used against gay and bisexual men prior to decriminalisation.

After the repeal in 1982, laws against acts such as sex in public places, which remain illegal today, were used disproportionately against gay and bisexual men, due to attitudes towards homosexual activity in Northern Ireland, he said.

"Far more people were arrested throughout Northern Ireland than had been in the previous hundred or so years, so there is an issue here with convictions in that the repeal scheme or the disregard scheme that is in current existence essentially does not capture many of those offences because they are still in essence illegal today.

"You have to remember that these were not people convicted as such for being homosexual or gay or bisexual but they were rather convicted for acts that had taken place in public places."

Hulme said that there needs to be a "broader public conversation about the conditions under which gay men and bisexual men were seeking sex" and the role of the police during these times.

"There is much more to learn about Northern Ireland's gay and bisexual history and that might provide some form of redress as well."

In England and Wales, the scheme was initially open to men with specific convictions for homosexual offences that have since been repealed.

It was extended in June 2023 with the aim to enable more people, including women and those serving in the UK armed forces, to apply.

Since then, 19 convictions have been eligible for a disregard for the year ending March 2026, lower than the 35 convictions in the previous year.

Prior to the extended scheme, there were 522 applicants and 208 convictions were eligible for a disregard.

In Scotland, 22 people have applied to have their convictions disregarded and 16 applications have been granted since 2019.

The legislation provides an automatic pardon for any man convicted of same-sex activity between men that would be legal today.