200 Years of LGBTQIA+ History

From Shadows to Pride — UK & Global Timeline

Source Record

Public Act, 25 Henry VIII, c. 6

Why this source is used

Parliamentary Archives catalogue record for the 1533 Act concerning the punishment of buggery, used as the early statutory anchor for English criminalisation.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer How did UK law criminalise homosexuality before 1967? Before 1967, English and Welsh law criminalised male same-sex intimacy through buggery and gross indecency offences, with punishments ranging from execution to imprisonment. Read the topic guide Criminalisation Before Decriminalisation Before partial decriminalisation in 1967, English and Welsh law criminalised male same-sex intimacy through sodomy and gross indecency offences.

Source Status

Publisher
Parliamentary Archives
Type
archive
Reliability
high
Cited by
3 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HL_PO_PU_1_1533_25H8n6 Accessed 2 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HL_PO_PU_1_1533_25H8n6

Used by Topics

Criminalisation Before Decriminalisation

Used by Questions

How did UK law criminalise homosexuality before 1967?

Used by Timeline Events

1533 LegalDiscriminationUK

Buggery Act 1533 — First English Sodomy Law

Henry VIII's Parliament passed the Buggery Act, making sodomy a criminal offence punishable by death for the first time under English civil law rather than ecclesiastical law. Previously, such cases had been handled by the Church courts. The Act transferred jurisdiction to the secular courts and established a legal framework that would persist in various forms for over four centuries.