Policing Sex in Public

Once any kind of sex in public might have led to arrest and prosecution. Now police across much of the UK take a softly-softly approach, writes Julie Bindel.

Decades ago, the police in the UK did their utmost to stop gay men having sex in public toilets and outdoor "cruising grounds". Men were frequently arrested, prosecuted and often jailed.

Today much has changed and the police take advice on "sensitivity and fairness" in dealing with those who have sex in public places.

A Freedom of Information request, submitted last year, revealed specific guidelines, published in 2009 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) on the policing of sex in public. The issue is significant enough for police that they use a standard term - Public Sex Environments (PSE).

And indeed public sex has been on the agenda in Britain since at least the late 1600s, according to some accounts. In the decades prior to the Sexual Offences Act 1967, gay men rarely "came out".

Cruising was one way that - albeit with a fairly high level of risk of persecution - men could meet other men in a way they could not in ordinary life.

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Published: 18-Sep-2014: (2613)