Why CHE is needed
Alan Turing
Over 100 years ago it become illegal for two men to express love for each other in a sexual way. After some cruel court cases in the 1950s (one of which led to the suicide of Alan Turing, then the world's leading expert in the development of computers) the Government set up the Wolfenden Committee which recommended that these laws should be changed. Although some changes were made in 1967 they didn't give homosexual men the same freedom of behaviour as heterosexual couples take for granted.
Even though it has never been illegal for women to express love for one another in a sexual way (in spite of an attempt by Parliament in 1922 to make it so) there are many ways that women face discrimination because of their sexuality: lesbian mothers are regularly denied custody of their children by the divorce courts in situations where other women face no contest; in Parliament recent Bills have tried to restrict childbearing to heterosexual couples.
Homosexual couples don't have the same rights as heterosexual couples do: when one partner dies the other doesn't automatically inherit their home & belongings. Social attitudes to homosexuality don't help: most homosexual couples still feel that they have to hide the fact that they live together - and this can put strains on their relationship. Homosexual couples don't get the same recognition as heterosexual couples enjoy.
Although there are laws which guarantee equal rights of employment for other minority groups, and laws which prohibit people from encouraging hatred against other minority groups, lesbian and gay people have no such protection - indeed, the number of attacks on gay men has risen sharply and there are both people and publications which openly attack those who are not heterosexual.
These are just a few examples of the way in which men and women are treated unequally if they are homosexual or bisexual. To remove this inequality we have to change the laws as well as public opinion. This is precisely what CHE works to achieve.
