The age of consent What is the age of consent? From January 2001
the age of consent became equal for gay men, lesbians and
heterosexuals. The age of consent for all is 16 in England,
Wales and Scotland. In June 2008, the House of Lords passed the
Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. This legislation
lowered the age of consent in Northern Ireland from 17 to 16 and
this change came into force on February 2 2009. - In 1967, when
gay sex was partially decriminalised, the age of consent for gay
men was set at 21 compared to 16 for heterosexuals; there was no
age of consent relating to lesbians. The unequal age of consent
signaled society's disapproval of homosexuality. Gay sex was
still seen as immoral, dangerous and to be discouraged. -
Stonewall began the first major campaign for an equal age of
consent in 1993.We launched the first major legal challenge,
Wilde v. UK, at the European Court of Human Rights. Three young
men, Ralph Wilde, Will Parry and Hugo Greenhalgh, who were all
18, claimed that the u