Editing OutRage! (section)

==Bolton 7==
{{Main|Bolton 7}}
The [[Bolton 7]] were a group of gay and bisexual men who were convicted on 12 January 1998 before Judge Michael Lever at [[Bolton Crown Court]] of the offences of [[Labouchere Amendment|gross indecency]] under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and of age of consent offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.<ref name=Dearden1999>{{Cite journal | last = Dearden | first = Nick | title = The Queen and the 'Bolton Seven' | journal = [[Feminist Legal Studies]] | volume = 7 | issue = 3 | pages = 317–332 | doi = 10.1023/A:1009218800557 | date = October 1999 | s2cid = 140928393 }}</ref> Equivalent heterosexual behaviour was not a crime. Estimates of the overall cost of the prosecution were in the region of £500,000.

Despite their convictions, none of them received custodial sentences possibly as a result of a high-profile campaign led by gay human rights group OutRage!. Over 400 letters were presented to the court in support of the men including those from MPs, Bishops and human rights groups. The letters urged the judge not to impose a custodial sentence, with one group, [[Amnesty International]], pledging to declare the men prisoners of conscience should they be imprisoned.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hagland|first=Paul EeNam Park|date=1997-05-01|title=International Theory and LGBT Politics: Testing the Limits of a Human Rights-Based Strategy|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-abstract/3/4/357/9937/International-Theory-and-LGBT-Politics-Testing-the|journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies|language=en|volume=3|issue=4|pages=357–384|doi=10.1215/10642684-3-4-357|issn=1064-2684|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 2000, six of the men appealed to the [[European Court of Human Rights]] arguing that the prosecutions against them had violated their rights under the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] by interfering with 'the right to respect for a private family life' enshrined in article 8 of the Convention. They were subsequently awarded compensation. As the remaining seventh man of the original group was not part of the litigation, he was not deemed eligible by the Home Office for the compensation.<ref name=Marks1998>{{cite news|title=Amnesty International takes up case of men in sex sessions|last=Marks|first=Kathy|date=20 February 1998|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/amnesty-international-takes-up-case-of-men-in-sex-sessions-1145745.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/amnesty-international-takes-up-case-of-men-in-sex-sessions-1145745.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|quote=Seven men who are to be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court today for taking part in group sex sessions in a private home will be adopted as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International if they are jailed. }}</ref>

Legislation subsequently introduced by the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Government]] broadly equalised the treatment of homosexual and heterosexual behaviours in criminal law. The offences of gross indecency and [[buggery]] were repealed and sexual activity between more than two men was no longer a crime in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web | title = Stonewall: The age of consent | url = http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_home/hate_crime_domestic_violence_and_criminal_law/2643.asp | publisher = [[Stonewall (charity)|Stonewall]] | access-date = 26 June 2015 | archive-date = 6 August 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150806082626/http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_home/hate_crime_domestic_violence_and_criminal_law/2643.asp | url-status = dead }}</ref>