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LGBTQ rights in the Isle of Man
Location of the Isle of Man (red) in the British Isles (red & grey)
Status	Legal since 1992, age of consent equal since 2006
Gender identity	Right to change legal gender since 2009
Military	UK responsible for defence
Discrimination protections	Sexual orientation and "gender reassignment" protections (see below)
Family rights
Recognition of relationships	Civil partnerships since 2011; Same-sex marriage since 2016
Adoption	Full adoption rights since 2011

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Policy aspects
Sexual orientation Adoption Age of consent Blood donation Christian nation Civil partnership History of violence HIV/AIDS Military policy Same-sex marriage
Gender identity, sex and intersex 21st-century anti-trans movement Transgender rights Intersex rights NHS Gender Identity Development Service Gender Recognition Panel
Legislation
Criminality Buggery Act 1533 Offences Against the Person Act 1828 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 Labouchere Amendment Wolfenden report Sexual Offences Act 1967 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 Homosexual Offences Order 1982 Section 28 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 Sexual Offences Act 2003 Policing and Crime Act 2017 Alan Turing law Merchant Shipping (Homosexual Conduct) Act 2017 Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) (Scotland) Act 2018
Protection and recognition Public Order Act 1986 Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 Adoption and Children Act 2002 Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 Civil Partnership Act 2004 Gender Recognition Act 2004 Equality Act 2006 Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 Equality Act 2010 Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019 Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019
Litigation Corbett v Corbett (1969) X v United Kingdom (1978) Dudgeon v United Kingdom (1981) R v Brown (1993) Sutherland v United Kingdom (1994) Smith and Grady v United Kingdom (1999) Goodwin & I v United Kingdom (2002) HJ and HT v Home Secretary (2010) National AIDS Trust v NHS Service Commissioning Board (2016) Bell v Tavistock (2021) AB v CD and others (2021)
Culture
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Organisations
LGBT advocacy and support Stonewall Hall–Carpenter Archives Black Gay Men's Advisory Group Akt Naz and Matt Foundation FFLAG LGBT Foundation LGBT Network Outright Scotland Switchboard (UK) NUS LGBT LGBT+ Liberal Democrats LGBT+ Conservatives LGBT+ Labour Labour Campaign for Trans Rights Mermaids Press for Change The Gender Trust
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Former groups OutRage! Campaign for Homosexual Equality Homosexual Law Reform Society Gay Liberation Front Gay Rights Working Party Order of Chaeronea
History
Topics Timeline List of politicians First LGBT officeholders Violence against LGBT people HIV/AIDS crisis Death penalty
Timeline 342 MSM activity made illegal 1533 Death penalty introduced for MSM activity 1543 Buggery Act extended to Wales 1828 Offences Against the Person Act 1828 1835 James Pratt and John Smith executed 1861 Death penalty for buggery abolished 1885 Labouchere Amendment introduced 1889 Cleveland Street scandal 1895 Oscar Wilde found guilty of gross indecency 1912 The Cave of the Golden Calf opens 1921 Plans to make lesbian activity illegal defeated 1936 Mark Weston transitions 1952 John Nott-Bower begins crackdown 1954 Pitt-Rivers, Montagu, Wildeblood imprisoned 1954 Alan Turing commits suicide 1957 Wolfenden report released 1967 MSM activity made legal (England & Wales) 1972 First British Gay Pride Rally 1976 Jeremy Thorpe resigns as Liberal leader 1981 MSM activity made legal (Scotland) 1981 First case of AIDS reported in the UK 1982 MSM activity made legal (NI) 1983 Gay men barred from donating blood 1984 Chris Smith elected as first openly gay MP 1987 Operation Spanner begins 1988 Section 28 comes into force 1989 Stonewall UK forms 1994 Age of consent for MSM becomes 18 1997 Angela Eagle becomes first openly lesbian MP 1998 Bolton 7 found guilty 1998 Lord Alli becomes first openly gay Lord 1999 Admiral Duncan bombing 2000 Gay men allowed in HM Armed Forces 2001 Age of consent equalised to 16 2001 MSM activity involving multiple men legal 2002 Same sex couples granted equal rights to adopt 2003 Section 28 repealed 2004 Civil partnerships introduced 2004 Gender Recognition Act 2004 2006 Discrimination made illegal 2008 Equalised access to IVF for lesbian couples 2008 Incitement to homophobic hatred made a crime 2009 Public apology to Alan Turing 2010 Equality Act 2010 2011 Gay men allowed to donate blood (1 yr deferral) 2013 Nikki Sinclaire becomes first openly trans MEP 2013 Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 2014 First same-sex marriages take place 2016 MSM activity not grounds for military discharge 2017 Turing law implemented 2017 Blood donation deferral 3 months (excl. NI) 2019 MPs legislate for gay marriage in NI 2020 Gay marriage legal across UK, incl. NI 2020 Blood donation deferral 3 months (incl. NI) 2021 Blood donation deferral equalised
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the British Crown dependency of the Isle of Man have evolved substantially since the early 2000s. Private and consensual acts of male homosexuality on the island were decriminalised in 1992. LGBTQ rights have been extended and recognised in law since then, such as an equal age of consent (2006), employment protection from discrimination (2006), gender identity recognition (2009), the right to enter into a civil partnership (2011), the right to adopt children (2011) and the right to enter into a civil marriage (2016).

While not part of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man has also followed the UK's example in incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into its own laws through the Human Rights Act 2001. In January 2023, it was reported that the Isle of Man "is the most LGBTQ legislative policy friendly place" in the world. In 2024, it became the first British territory and the first part of the British Isles to ban conversion therapy.

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Prior to September 1992, same-sex sexual activity was a criminal offence. After decriminalisation, the age of consent was set at 21, which at that time was the same age as in the United Kingdom. In 2001, the age of consent for male homosexuals was lowered to eighteen by the Criminal Justice Act 2001 (c.4). In 2006, by the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2006 (c.3), the age of consent was lowered again to sixteen, becoming gender-neutral for all sexual conduct, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.

Until 2021, Section 9 of the Sexual Offences Act 1992 continued to apply the criminal law to some "unnatural offences" between men. Sub-sections (1) and (4) made "buggery" and "gross indecency" between men offences if one or both of the parties is under sixteen and also if the acts were committed "elsewhere than in private." The meaning of this was defined in Section 10: not in private meant that "more than two persons are present" or that the location is "any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise." In 2021, the "more than two persons are present" specification was deleted, and the language prohibiting "indecent exposure" and "sexual activity in a public place" was made gender-neutral.

Pardon scheme law

In July 2021, the Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Act 2021 passed into law with royal assent. The legislation went into legal effect formally a year later since July 1, 2022 by proclamation. This law will pardon historical gay sex offences committed prior to 1992 and is explicitly based on the UK's Alan Turing law of 2017. "A ban on sexual orientation and gender identity conversion therapy" was passed into law in 2020 as an amendment added to the very extensive sexual offences bill in the Legislative Council. This came into effect in 2024.

Unqualified apology

The Isle of Man's Chief Minister Howard Quayle has issued an "unqualified apology" to gay men convicted of same-sex offences under previous Manx laws. He made the comments as a bill, which will see men convicted of consensual homosexual offences pardoned, had its final reading in the House of Keys. Mr Quayle said he could not erase "past injustice" but hoped new legislation would "start to heal some of the pain". Gay rights campaigner Alan Shea said it was a "great day for the Isle of Man". "The families that have lost children have just received an apology. Maybe now we can all heal, but parents will never forget their children," he said. Homosexual acts were decriminalised on the Isle of Man in 1992, 25 years later than in England and Wales, and 12 years after Scotland. In August 2022, on the 30th anniversary of homosexuality being decriminalised the police commissioner on the Isle of Man - also formally apologised for enforcement of the anti-gay laws up until 1992.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Same-sex unions can be recognised through civil partnerships or marriage. The Isle of Man Parliament legalised civil partnerships in April 2011 and same-sex marriages in July 2016.

Civil partnerships

Since 2011, same-sex couples have been provided with civil partnerships. A civil partnership bill passed all stages of both the House of Keys and the Legislative Council and was signed into law on 15 March 2011. The Civil Partnership Act 2011 (c. 2) took effect on 6 April 2011. It was decided in 2014 that same-sex marriages from England, Wales and Scotland as well as other relationships performed abroad would be treated as civil partnerships on the island, until same-sex marriage is legalised.

Same-sex marriage

On 9 June 2015, Chief Minister Allan Bell announced his intention to repeal the law barring same-sex marriage on the island. Following public consultation on the issue, a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in the Isle was introduced to House of Keys on 2 February 2016. A public consultation and government response was concluded by 22 January 2016, and the bill passed its third reading in the House on 8 March by a vote of 17–3. Following a number of technical amendments at the clauses stage, the bill passed its third reading in the Legislative Council on 26 April 2016 by a vote of 6–3. The House of Keys unanimously approved the amendments to the bill on 10 May, and royal assent was granted on 19 July 2016. The law went into effect on 22 July 2016. Lee Clarke-Vorster has been noted in Hansard as main campaigner for the same-sex marriage bill.

The first same-sex marriage to be registered on the Isle of Man was that of Marc and Alan Steffan-Cowell, who converted their civil partnership into a marriage on 25 July 2016. The first same-sex marriage to be performed on the island occurred on 30 July, between Luke Carine and Zak Tomlinson.

Since November 2023, certain churches have applied for marriage licences so they can legally perform same-sex marriage on the Isle of Man.

Adoption and family planning

By the Civil Partnership Act 2011 (c. 2), same-sex couples in the Isle of Man have been granted equal access to full joint or stepchild adoption since 6 April 2011.

Additionally, lesbian couples have access to artificial insemination. In August 2023, "community consultation" commenced to legally recognise same-sex couples as parents - just like the UK implemented since 2008. Currently on the Isle of Man same-sex couples are not recognised as parents on birth certificates from IVF and surrogacy, despite IVF access being available. No laws on the Isle of Man acknowledge surrogacy.

Discrimination protections

Under the Employment Act 2006 (c. 21), which took effect on 1 September 2006, the Isle of Man adopted legislation which made it unlawful to dismiss employees on the grounds of their sexual orientation. At the time, LGBT reports from the Isle of Man stated that the island's Government was "falling behind".

In 2013, after a highly publicised case on the island involving a lesbian couple who were not allowed to rent a house by a church leader, Chief Minister Alan Bell announced that legislation to outlaw all forms of discrimination in goods and services would be introduced. A draft bill, based on the British Equality Act 2010, would replace all existing anti-discrimination laws into one piece of legislation. Consultation on the bill ended in November 2014. In August 2015, the Government published its response to the consultation. The measure had its first reading in the 11-member Legislative Council on 8 March 2016. The bill passed its second reading by a vote of 6-3 on 22 March. 12 amendments to the bill were proposed within the clauses stage and all passed. The bill passed its third reading by a vote of 5-4 on 14 June 2016. The legislation was approved by the House of Keys on 7 March 2017, with amendments. On 28 March, the Legislative Council concurred with the amendments. Royal assent was granted on 18 July 2017. The Equality Act 2017 was phased in, with much of the law having come into force on 1 January 2019.

The Equality Act 2017 (Manx: Slattys Cormid 2017) lists age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation as protected characteristics and grounds of non-discrimination. Sexual orientation is defined as "a person's inherent romantic or sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex, persons of the opposite sex, or persons of either sex". In addition, "not being romantically or sexually attracted to persons of either sex is also a sexual orientation".

Hate crime legislation

In July 2022, community consultation progressed that would soon introduce a hate crime bill within the Isle of Man - that explicitly includes "sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status and gender reassignment".

Gender identity and expression

Transgender persons are allowed to change their legal gender and to have their new gender recognised as a result of the Gender Recognition Act 2009 (c.11).

Blood donation policy

In August 2022, it was reported by the BBC that the Isle of Man government would formally reform the blood donation policy by introducing a bill, that would legally allow monogamous gay and bi men to donate blood - to be inline with the UK by early 2023. A review of blood donation policies was conducted back in 2014 on the Isle of Man, however no action was taken. Since 1 June, 2023 monogamous gay and bi men can donate blood - non-monogamous individuals who have anal sex regardless of sexuality are banned from donating blood for periods of three months after their last sexual contact.

Summary table

Same-sex sexual activity legal	(Since 1992)
Equal age of consent (16)	(Since 2006)
Gay sex criminal offences expungement or pardon scheme	(Since 2022)
Anti-discrimination laws in employment	(Since 2006)
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services	(Since 2019)
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech)	(Since 2019)
Anti-discrimination laws concerning gender identity	(Since 2019 - Equality Act 2017 refers to "gender reassignment" and "transgender person")
Recognition of same-sex couples	(Since 2011)
Same-sex marriages	(Since 2016)
Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples	(Since 2011)
Joint adoption by same-sex couples	(Since 2011)
LGBT people allowed to serve openly in the military	(Since 2000)
Right to change legal gender	(Since 2009)
Access to IVF for lesbian couples	(Since 2009)
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples	(Banned for heterosexual couples as well)
MSMs allowed to donate blood	(Since 2023)

See also

• Politics of the Isle of Man
• Human rights in the Isle of Man
• Same-sex marriage in the Isle of Man
• LGBTQ rights in the United Kingdom
• LGBTQ rights in Europe

References

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• LGBTQ rights in the Isle of Man