when was homosexuality decriminalised in the uk

Homosexuality was partially decriminalised in the UK by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised consensual sexual acts between men over the age of 21 "in private" in England and Wales. This act came into effect on 27 July 1967. However, this law did not apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland at the time, where homosexuality remained illegal until later—Scotland decriminalised it in 1980 and Northern Ireland in 1982. Full decriminalisation, removing conditions such as "in private" and equalising the age of consent, was achieved later with the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into force in 2004 and applied neutral standards to sexual offences regardless of the sex of participants.