Queen Elizabeth II’s LGBTQ+ rights track record
Over the seven decades Queen Elizabeth II reigned, life was radically transformed for LGBTQ+ Britons. She oversaw a breadth of political and cultural advancement that few other monarchs can ever hope to match.
We look back on how the Queen advanced LGBTQ+ rights during her reign.
The Queen was a quiet supporter of LGBTQ+ rights
When Elizabeth II first came to power, police were still enforcing strict anti-sodomy laws that had been first implemented by Henry VIII in 1553.
Thrust into the role at age 25 after the death of her father, she was committed to “political neutrality” (as is customary for the monarchy) and avoided much public comment on LGBTQ+ rights.
The Queen was generally recognized, however, as a quiet supporter of gay rights. She saw Britain transform from a nation that threw gay men behind bars to one where they could legally marry.
The Queen gave royal assent to many pro-LGBTQ+ laws
One of the first major pieces of pro-gay legislation Queen Elizabeth II gave royal assent to was the Sexual Offences Act of 1967.
The history-making act decriminalized gay sex in private between men aged 21 and over in England and Wales.
Then in 1998, the European Convention on Human Rights was enshrined in British law for the first time when the Human Rights Act was given royal assent. The act has been used in a number of cases to uphold LGBTQ+ rights in the United Kingdom.
Another pro-gay law that Queen Elizabeth II supported was the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). The act, which was given royal assent on 1 July 2004, put in place a process that allowed trans people to legally change their gender for the first time.
2013: ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’
Queen Elizabeth II’s public support for LGBTQ+ rights seems to have begun in 2013.
That year, she granted pardon to scientist Alan Turing, who was punished by the British government for his sexuality. (Turing died by suicide in 1954.)
Also in 2013, in a ceremony to mark Commonwealth Day, The Queen gave a speech endorsing a new agreement between the Commonwealth nations stating that the signatories oppose “all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, color, creed, political belief or other grounds.”
That same year, she gave her royal stamp of approval to the Equal Marriages Act legalizing gay marriage in Britain.
After signing the Royal Assent, the Queen was reported to have said: “Well, who’d have thought 62 years ago when I came to the throne, I’d be signing something like this? Isn’t it wonderful?”
The Queen’s contribution to LGBTQ+ rights
Queen Elizabeth II became more vocal about her support for LGBTQ+ rights in the years that followed.
Most recently, in a nine-minute speech to Parliament in May 2021, she said “measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities” and her government would outlaw the dangerous practice of conversion therapy.
With that final decree, the politically “neutral” monarch will be officially remembered as a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.