Editing Cottaging (section)

==Legal status==
[[File:Single person notice.jpg|thumb|200x200px|A sign outside a toilet cubicle in the Duke of Wellington gay bar in Soho which explains that it is one person per cubicle  ]]
Sexual acts in public lavatories are outlawed by many jurisdictions. It is likely that the element of risk involved in cottaging makes it an attractive activity to some.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TDWtYqEUiWgC ''Public Sex/gay Space''] by William Leap; Published by [[Columbia University Press]], 1999; {{ISBN|0-231-10691-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-231-10691-7}}.</ref><ref name=Kirchick2009>{{cite news
|title=Cruise Control
|last=Kirchick
|first=James
|date=1 November 2009
|newspaper=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]
|access-date=22 October 2009
|url=http://www.advocate.com/Print_Issue/Features/Cruise_Control
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010144019/http://advocate.com/Print_Issue/Features/Cruise_Control/
|archive-date=10 October 2009
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

Historically, in the United Kingdom, public gay sex often resulted in a charge and conviction of [[gross indecency between men|gross indecency]], an offence only pertaining to sexual acts committed by males and particularly applied to homosexual activity.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|date=23 June 1965|page=13|issue=56355|title=Police Observation|author=Walter Bluhm|quote=The officers described the toilet in question as a notorious meeting ground and referred to 26 convictions as a result of their observations.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=The Guardian (London)|date=17 October 1984|title=Far from gay / Prejudice against homosexuals|author=Helen Chappell|quote=There's all the extra police interest – raids on gay bookshops, the changes in the Police Bill, the belief of the 'pretty police' in their holy quest to stamp out cottaging.}}</ref> Anal penetration was a separate and much more serious crime that came under the definition of [[buggery]]. Buggery was a capital offence between 1533 and 1861 under UK law, although it rarely resulted in a death sentence. Importuning was an offer of sexual gratification between men, often for money. The [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]] permitted sex between consenting men over 21 years of age when conducted in private, but the act specifically excluded public lavatories from being "private". The [[Sexual Offences Act 2003]] replaced this aspect with the offence of "Sexual activity in a public lavatory" which includes solo [[masturbation]].

In some of the cases where people were brought to court for cottaging, the issue of [[entrapment]] arose.<ref name=Kirchick2009/> Since the offences were public but often carried out behind closed lavatory doors, the police sometimes found it easier to use undercover police officers, who would frequent toilets posing as homosexuals in an effort to entice other men to approach them for sex.<ref> Clifford Williams, "Gay men and the police 1950-2010" in The Journal of the Police History Society (2019)</ref> These men would then be arrested for importuning or soliciting and in some cases indecent assault. 

===Timeline of historic cases===
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! style="text-align:left" | Date
! style="text-align:left" | Event
|-
|1943
|Newspaper editor Clarence McNulty<ref>
{{cite dictionary
|chapter-url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150322b.htm
|title=McNulty, Clarence Sydney (1903–1964) Biographical Entry
|chapter=McNulty, Clarence Sydney (1903–1964)
|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
|dictionary=Australian Dictionary of Biography
|access-date=10 March 2009
}}
</ref> was arrested for ''wilfully and obscenely exposing his person'' in the Lang Park toilets near [[Wynyard railway station, Sydney]], in New South Wales, Australia. He denied the charges and this early case highlighted the practice of the police using ''pretty policemen''<ref name=Higgins1996>{{Cite book |last=Higgins |first=Patrick |year=1996 |title=Heterosexual dictatorship: male homosexuality in postwar Britain |publisher=Fourth Estate |isbn=978-1-85702-355-8 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9eGAAAAIAAJ }}</ref> (i.e. as "bait") to entrap the public. As only one police officer was present in the toilet, the magistrate determined that the police were unable to correctly corroborate the evidence and gave McNulty the benefit of the doubt.<ref>{{harv|French|1993|pp=95–97}}</ref>
|-
|1946
|[[Mowbray Baronets|Sir George Robert Mowbray, 5th Baronet]], was fined for [[wikt:importune|importuning]] men at [[Piccadilly Circus tube station|Piccadilly Circus Underground station]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Baronet Fined |date=Aug 28, 1946 |page=2 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Baronet+Fined |newspaper=The Times |ref=CS35341084 |quote=Sir George Robert Mowbray, 47,... president of Reading University Council, was at Bow Street yesterday fined £20 and ordered to pay £5 5s. costs for importuning men for an immoral purpose at Piccadilly Circus Underground station.}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|1940s
|[[Tom Driberg]] was charged with [[indecent assault]] after two men shared his bed in the 1940s and used his position as a journalist several times to get off later charges when caught soliciting in public toilets by the police.<ref name=Parris2004A>{{Cite book |last1=Parris |first1=Matthew |year=2004 |title=Great parliamentary scandals: five centuries of calumny, smear and innuendo |first2=Kevin |last2=Maguire |edition=revised |publisher=Robson |isbn=978-1-86105-736-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr/page/126 126] }}</ref><ref name=CS235242160>{{cite news |title=The private rights of a public man |author=Humphry Berkeley |date=May 16, 1978 |page=14 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=The+private+rights+of+a+public+man |newspaper=The Times |location=Issue 60302; col A |ref=CS235242160 |quote=The extreme homosexual promiscuity of the late Tom Driberg, as revealed in his posthumous autobiography, must have surprised all but his closest friends.}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|1953
|Actor [[John Gielgud]] was arrested and fined [[£]]10 for cottaging ("persistently importuning").<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Independent Extra|date=28 February 2008|title=When England hounded a hero; John Gielgud's arrest for cottaging in 1953 sparked public outrage and, for the actor, private agony. A new play tells the story of the scandal.|author=Rhoda Koenig}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|date=22 October 1953|page=5|title=Fine For "Persistently Importuning"}}</ref><ref name=Munn2007>{{Cite book |last=Munn |first=Michael |year=2007 |title=Lord Larry: the secret life of Laurence Olivier : a personal and intimate portrait |publisher=Anova Books |isbn=978-1-86105-977-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IrgcXteIMgC |page=165 }}</ref>
|-
|1953
|MP [[William J. Field]] was arrested for persistently importuning in a public toilet. Field appealed against the conviction twice but failed on both occasions.<ref name=Robinson2008>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Shirleene |year=2008 |title=Homophobia: An Australian History |publisher=Federation Press |isbn=978-1-86287-703-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWHOI2s9JqQC |page=118 }}</ref><ref name=Parris1995>{{Cite book |last1=Parris |first1=Matthew |year=1995 |title=Great parliamentary scandals: four centuries of calumny, smear and innuendo |first2=David |last2=Prosser |first3=Andrew |last3=Pierce |publisher=Robson Books |isbn=978-0-86051-957-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mUlnAAAAMAAJ |page=107 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Charge Against A Bio-Chemist |date=Jan 8, 1953 |page=3 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Charge+Against+A+Bio-Chemist |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716075411/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Charge+Against+A+Bio-Chemist |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |newspaper=The Times |location=Issue 52514; col D |ref=CS52252712 |quote=William James Field... [charged] yesterday with persistently importuning men for an immoral purpose in Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square on Tuesday night. He at first pleaded Guilty, and was thereupon remanded in custody for a week.}}</ref><ref name=CS185946441>{{cite news |title=Queen's Bench Division; Conviction Of Importuning: Appeal Fails, Field v. Chapman |date=Oct 9, 1953 |page=11 |url=https://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Queen's+Bench+Division |newspaper=The Times |location=Issue 52748; col E |ref=CS185946441}}</ref>
|-
|1954
|American mathematician [[John Forbes Nash, Jr.]] arrested in a [[public toilet]] in [[Santa Monica, California]]. He was stripped of his [[top-secret security clearance]] and fired from the [[think tank]] where he was a consultant.<ref>{{cite news |author=Sylvia Nasar |author-link=Sylvia Nasar |title=The sum of a man |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/mar/26/biography.highereducation |quote=Nash was arrested in a police trap in a public lavatory in Santa Monica in 1954, at the height of the McCarthy hysteria. The military think-tank where he was a consultant, stripped him of his top-secret security clearance and fired him ... The charge - indecent exposure - was dropped.  |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date= March 25, 2002 |access-date=9 July 2012 }}</ref>
|-
|1956
|Sir [[Milne-Watson Baronets|David Milne-Watson]] was fined for importuning at [[South Kensington tube station|South Kensington railway station]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Baronet Fined |date=Jan 12, 1956 |page=4 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Baronet+Fined |newspaper=The Times |ref=CS70473260 |quote=Sir David Ronald Milne-Watson,... was fined £15 on a charge of persistently importuning for an immoral purpose at South Kensington railway station.}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|1962
|On 6 November 1962, actor [[Wilfrid Brambell]] was arrested in a toilet in [[Shepherd's Bush]] for persistently importuning.<ref>{{cite news|title=News in Brief: Conditional discharge for television actor|date=December 13, 1962|newspaper=The Times|pages=17|quote=Wilfred Brambell ... was conditionally discharged for a year and ordered to pay 25 guineas costs at West London Magistrates' Court yesterday for persistently importuning for an immoral purpose at Shepherds Bush Green on November 6}}</ref>
|-
|1962
|In 1962, the [[Mansfield, Ohio]] Police Department conducted a sting operation in which they covertly filmed men having sex in the public restroom underneath Central Park. Thirty-eight men were convicted and jailed for sodomy. After the arrest, the city closed the restrooms and backfilled the site. The police later made a training film of the footage. It was rereleased in 2007 as ''Tearoom''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.williamejones.com/collections/about/11 |title=Tearoom :: About |access-date=2014-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729135219/http://www.williamejones.com/collections/about/11 |archive-date=2014-07-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
|1964
|In October, US President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s aide [[Walter Jenkins]] was arrested in a YMCA in [[Washington, D.C.]], and the case was subsequently dismissed.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Jenkins Report |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876303,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727025024/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876303,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2008 | magazine=Time | date=30 October 1964 |access-date=9 March 2009}}</ref><ref name=Johansson1994>{{Cite book |last1=Johansson |first1=Warren |year=1994 |title=Outing: shattering the conspiracy of silence |first2=William A. |last2=Percy |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56024-419-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lZ903C-dkMC |page=105 }}</ref>
|-
|1968
|[[Michael Turnbull (bishop)|Michael Turnbull]] was arrested in Hull for cottaging in a public toilet, before he became [[Bishop of Durham]].<ref name=Lucas1998>{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Ian |year=1998 |title=OutRage!: an oral history |publisher=Cassell |isbn=978-0-304-33358-5 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6M-GAAAAIAAJ }}</ref>
|-
|1975
|In September 1975, actor [[Peter Wyngarde]] was arrested (under his real name, Cyril Louis Goldbert) in Gloucester bus station public toilets for gross indecency with Richard Jack Whalley (a truck driver). He was fined £75.<ref name=Richards2003>{{Cite book |last=Richards |first=Stephen |year=2003 |title=Crime through time |publisher=Mirage Publishing |isbn=978-1-902578-17-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKEYVtatY4IC |page=294 }}</ref>
|-
|1976
|Sixty-six-year-old retired U.S. Major General [[Edwin Walker]] made sexual advances to an undercover police officer in a public lavatory at a park in Dallas, Texas, on June 23, 1976, and was arrested for public lewdness. The general pleaded no contest and was fined [[United States dollar|$]]1,000 and court costs.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pace|first=Eric|title=Gen. Edwin Walker, 83, is Dead; Promoted Rightist Causes in 60's|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/02/obituaries/gen-edwin-walker-83-is-dead-promoted-rightist-causes-in-60-s.html|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=2 November 1993}}</ref> 
|-
|1976
|Former Judge [[G. Harrold Carswell]] was convicted of [[battery (crime)|battery]] for advances he made to an undercover police officer in a [[Tallahassee]] public lavatory.<ref>Joyce Murdoch, Deb Price, ''Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court'' (2002) p. 187.</ref>
|-
|1981
|''[[Coronation Street]]'' actor [[Peter Dudley]] was observed exposing himself to another man in a public toilet in [[Didsbury|Didsbury, Manchester]], and was charged with importuning. He pleaded guilty and was fined £200. Some months later, Dudley was charged again with gross indecency for an alleged similar offence, though this time he claimed he was not guilty and had been set up by the police. A Crown Court jury failed to reach a verdict, but while waiting for a retrial, Dudley suffered a series of strokes and heart attacks and died on 20 October 1983.<ref name=Guardian83>{{cite news |title=Coronation Street actor dies |date=21 October 1983 |page=2 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>
|-
|1984
|The Labour MP [[Roger Thomas (British politician)|Roger Thomas]] was convicted in [[Swansea]] of importuning for immoral purposes in a men's lavatory. He was fined £75.<ref>Julia Langdon and Paul Hoyland, 'Thomas may delay resignation to help Labour's poll chances', ''[[The Guardian]]'', 5 March 1984, p. 2. Retrieved 15 January 2023.</ref>
|-
|1984
|Actor [[Leonard Sachs]] was fined for importuning in a public toilet.<ref name=CS51482161>{{cite news |title=Sachs fined |date=Jan 17, 1984 |page=3 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=News+in+Brief |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716075549/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=News+in+Brief |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |newspaper=The Times |ref=CS51482161 |quote=Leonard Sachs, aged 74, compere of the BBC's Good Old Days television show, was fined £75... for importuning men for an immoral purpose in Notting Hill Gate Station public lavatories.}}</ref>
|-
|1988
|Australian radio personality [[Alan Jones (talkback host)|Alan Jones]] was arrested in a public lavatory block in London's West End and charged with two counts of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner under the Westminster [[Bylaw|by-laws]]. He was later cleared of all charges and awarded costs.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Advertiser|date=7 December 1988|title=Former coach Jones denies charge of indecency|author=Rosie Mckay}}</ref>
|-
|1990
|British pop star [[Stedman Pearson]] (of the group [[Five Star]]) appeared at Kingston Magistrates Court in October 1990 and pleaded guilty to a charge of [[public indecency]] after being arrested in a public toilet in [[New Malden]] in London.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news| last = Simpson| first = Dave| title = Let's Go Round Again|newspaper = The Guardian|location = London|date =26 June 2008| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jun/26/popandrock.culture|access-date = 10 December 2009}}</ref><ref>"We Are Family" (Documentary interview with 5 Star). BBC Television. (7 January 2003)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virginmedia.com/music/features/80s-stars-where-are-they-now.php?gallery=18&page=18|title=Virgin TV Edit - TV, Sport, Movies & More|website=virginmedia.com}}</ref><ref>Larkin, Colin (1998). ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B and Soul'', (p.121). Virgin Books/Muze Inc. London, England. {{ISBN|0-7535-0241-0}}</ref><ref>Rees, Dafydd & Crampton, Luke (1991). ''Rock Movers and Shakers'', p.172-173 (1991 Rev. Edition). ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, U.S. {{ISBN|0-87436-661-5}}.</ref>
|-
|1998
|In April 1998, pop star [[George Michael]] was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in [[Los Angeles]] after a sting operation by local police. Although he considered the arrest to be police [[entrapment]], he pleaded "no contest" to the charge in court and was fined $810 and ordered to do 80 hours of community service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/93900.stm|title=BBC News - UK - Court fines George Michael for 'lewd' act|website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)|date=15 May 1998|title=George sentenced to sex therapy|author=Hall, Allan}}</ref> Later that year, Michael [[satire|satirised]] the events in his music video for the song "[[Outside (George Michael song)|Outside]]" and was sued by one of the officers in the original arrest for portraying him as [[non-heterosexual]] and mocking him. The suit was ultimately dismissed.<ref>{{cite web |author=A. Wallace Tashima|author-link=A. Wallace Tashima|title=Marcelo Rodriguez v Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou |format=.PDF |publisher=United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit |url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/6BEA0A1BA36F0D2A88256C84000643EA/$file/0056923.pdf?openelement |date=3 December 2002 |access-date=15 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060627064432/http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/6BEA0A1BA36F0D2A88256C84000643EA/%24file/0056923.pdf?openelement |archive-date=27 June 2006 }}</ref><ref>"George Bust 'Bad Karma' Says U.S. Cop", ''Sunday Star'', 5 March 2006</ref><ref name=Cole2000>{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=Mike |year=2000 |title=Education, equality and human rights: issues of gender, 'race', sexuality, special needs and social class |editor=Mike Cole |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7507-0876-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPg5oxs6_nUC |page=83 }}</ref>
|-
|1998
|In October 1998, [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] MP [[Ron Davies (Welsh politician)|Ron Davies]] was mugged at knifepoint on [[Clapham Common]]. He resigned after it became clear he was engaging in homosexual activities in a known cottaging area.<ref name=Parris2004B>{{Cite book |last1=Parris |first1=Matthew |year=2004 |title=Great parliamentary scandals: five centuries of calumny, smear and innuendo |first2=Kevin |last2=Maguire |edition=revised |publisher=Robson |isbn=978-1-86105-736-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr/page/385 385] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)|date=28 October 1998|title=Courting danger on the Common}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fallen former Welsh secretary to re-marry |author=Staff and agencies|date=15 July 2002 |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/jul/15/wales.devolution |quote=The former minister alleged he was robbed by a man he had befriended late at night on Clapham Common – a well known cottaging location for gay men. Mr Davies said the next day he had accepted the stranger's offer of a curry, but was robbed as he gave the man a lift to his flat.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Monitor: The resignation of Ron Davies – A walk on the wild side |date=31 October 1998 |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/monitor-the-resignation-of-ron-davies--a-walk-on-the-wild-side-1181637.html |quote=IT IS impossible – as indeed it would be unwise – to separate totally a politician's private conduct from his public life. Whether homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual, what can damn those entrusted with high office is when they indulge in reckless, corrupting and promiscuous behaviour. People recognise this when they see it and they have every right to be told about it. In that respect, a homosexual minister who goes cottaging is as deserving of censure as a heterosexual magistrate who goes kerb-crawling.}}</ref>
|-
|2007
|On 11 June 2007, US Senator [[Larry Craig]] was arrested in the men's public toilet in the Lindbergh Terminal of the [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport]] for allegedly soliciting sex. Craig later pleaded guilty to [[disorderly conduct]] and announced his intent to resign from his post as Republican senator from Idaho; ultimately,<ref>''[http://www.slate.com/id/2172966/ Craig's Lust]''. Slate, August 28, 2007</ref> he did not resign. He contested his guilty plea, paid a fine, and served out his term; he did not run for re-election in 2008.<ref name=Quatro2008>{{Cite book |last1=Quatro |first1=Scott A. |year=2008 |title=Executive Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas and Challenges for the C-Suite |first2=Ronald R. |last2=Sims |publisher=IAP |isbn=978-1-59311-783-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xh_Bs1jkCsC |page=100 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sorry I quit, says anti-gay senator arrested in airport toilet |last=Harris |first=Paul |date=2 September 2007 |newspaper=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/02/usa.paulharris}}</ref>
|}