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In a Times interveiw, Alan Duncan acknowledged his sexuality, making him the first openly gay MP.
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On 1 May 2004 the Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force. It removed all previous sex-specific legislation, including the 1967 Act, and introduced instead neutral offences. This meant that the previous conditions relating to privacy were removed, and sexual acts were viewed by the law without regard to the sex of the participants.
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As of 4 April 2005, it has been possible for someone to change their legal gender identity.
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The Act created civil partnerships, which gave same-sex couples who entered into them the same rights and responsibilities of marriage.
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The first civil partnerships took place in Northern Ireland on 19 December 2005, followed by Scotland on 20 December and then England and Wales on 21 December.
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The Act allows for lesbians and their partners equal access to legal presumptions of parentage in cases of in vitro fertilisation or assisted/self insemination from the moment the child is born.
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Pope Benedict XVI condemns British equality legislation for running contrary to "natural law".
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This act codified a number of previous Acts into one. These included the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
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The coalition government expresses intention to begin consultation to allow both religious same-sex ceremonies and civil marriage for same-sex couples.
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A map showing which constituencie's MPs support (pink) and oppose (green) same-sex marriage
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The Bill was introduced to the Commons by Maria Miller on the 24th January. The full debate of Bill takes place on 5th February
