Automatic pardons for men convicted under IOM's former gay sex laws

Pardons are being given to men with historical criminal convictions linked to homosexual acts on the Isle of Man.

They are being given to men convicted of consensual sex under abolished laws.

Home Affairs Minister Jane Poole-Wilson said it was "very difficult to accept how it was once commonplace for people to be criminalised in this way".

Homosexual acts were decriminalised on the Isle of Man in 1992, 25 years later than in England and Wales, and 12 years after Scotland.

As well as being pardoned, those with historical convictions will be able to apply to the Manx Department of Home Affairs to have them removed from their record as part of the formal disregard process.

In 2020 the then Chief Minister Howard Quayle issued an "unqualified apology" to men convicted of same-sex offences.

Ms Poole-Wilson said she hoped the automatic pardons would "help to address at least some of the hurt caused by our historical laws".

She added that Manx society had "progressed and become much more inclusive and tolerant than when these discriminatory laws were in place, but we still have work to do to protect everyone".

The change in the law is part of the new Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Act 2021, which will eventually replace all current sexual offence legislation on the island.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the pardons were "long overdue but very, very welcome".

Mr Tatchell said many men had their "lives wrecked" as a result of the "stigma of criminalisation".

He said the "suffering these men endured cannot be underestimated".

But he renewed his previous call for the island's chief constable to follow in the footsteps of Mr Quayle and apologise to those convicted.

"It's great to see the Isle of Man join the family of nations that now has made a pardon possible - that is fantastic news.

"I just hope the chief constable will now follow up with a long-overdue apology."

Fellow campaigner Alan Shea, who petitioned Tynwald for a law change in 1991, said the island had now "come a long way".

"It took 30 years but we are getting there," he added.

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