A scheme to pardon people unjustly criminalised for alleged gay or lesbian activity has been expanded, the Home Office has announced.
For the first time, women will be able to apply for their records to be wiped if they have been convicted or cautioned under any repealed or abolished offences relating to same-sex activity.
Until now, only men have been able to apply to have convictions wiped under the government’s disregards and pardons scheme. These largely focused on offences of buggery and gross indecency between men.
From Tuesday, offences such as “solicitation by men” will be included. More army veterans will also be able to apply for convictions brought under service law to be erased. Under the plans, first announced last year, those who were unjustly criminalised will be pardoned and their convictions deleted from official records.
The minister for safeguarding, Sarah Dines, said: “The appalling criminalisation of homosexuality is a shameful and yet not so distant part of our history. Although they can never be undone, the disregards and pardons scheme has gone some way to right the wrongs of the past.”
Since 2012, men have been able to apply to have their convictions or cautions for consensual sex with another man disregarded. Last year, changes were announced to widen the range of civilian and service offences under the scheme, as well as allowing women to apply.
A disregard applies to offences where the other party was 16 or over and the activity is not a crime today.
Craig Jones, the executive chair of the LGBT+ veterans’ charity Fighting With Pride, and Caroline Paige, its chief executive, said: “This extension to the disregards and pardons scheme and its inclusion of female veterans is welcome and another small step in the right direction.
“We will continue to work very closely with the Ministry of Defence and other government departments to ensure the vulnerable veterans in this cohort get all the support available to them.”
Women in the military who were dismissed on the grounds of their sexuality and anyone sacked for it will be able to have their service medals restored if they were taken away when they were kicked out of the armed forces.
Gay rights campaigners welcomed the move as the “first step on a journey” but said that issues such as enduring criminal records, lost pension rights and still-blemished service records needed to be dealt with by the Ministry of Defence.
By law, gay men and lesbian women were banned from serving in the British military until 2000. About 200 to 250 people were thrown out each year because of their sexuality, and frequently had their service medals removed.
