1886 In 1885, Henry Labouchere proposes an amendment to the Criminal Law Amendment Act which makes all sexual relations between men illegal: this becomes law in 1886.
1921 An "Acts of Indecency by Females" clause is proposed to the Criminal Law Amendment Act, but this clause fails in the House of Lords on the grounds that most women haven't heard of lesbianism.
1957 The publication of the Wolfenden Report recommended changes in the English law on homosexuality.
1967 The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalises male homosexual behaviour in England and Wales.

Forty Years of LGBT Activism in Scotland

1969 Half a dozen gay men meet in the home of Ian Dunn's parents in Glasgow, and over three meetings agree to found the Scottish Minorities Group (SMG): Scotland's first gay rights group.
1970 The Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a more radical and militant group, is set up in Scotland.
1971 Aberdeen SMG is founded.
1971 The Traverse Theatre, as part of a series of debates called “The Traverse Trials”, staged a debate on the motion that all discrimination against homosexuals should end. SMG and GLF join forces to argue the case: their opponents are two psychiatrists and a Tory councillor, who described gay people as “so-called human beings”.
1971 The first issue of SMG News is published: Ian Dunn is editor.
1974 The world's first International Gay Rights Conference is held in Edinburgh University: and a spontaneous protest from the university to the BBC offices in Queen Street via the Scotsman, is Scotland's first gay pride march. In response to a casual comment at the conference about the “red herring” of feminism, a small group of lesbian-feminists found Red Herring.
Also in 1974: Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard is launched, and the Edinburgh LGBT Centre at 58a/60 Broughton Street is founded.
1976 SMG women's group founded
1977 Glasgow LGBT Centre at 534 Sauchiehall Street founded.
1978 SMG renames itself Scottish Homosexual Rights Group (SHRG)
1981 The Criminal Justice Act decriminalises sex between men in Scotland.
1982 SMG News transforms itself into Gay Scotland.
1982 Lavender Menace opens in a basement in Forth Street: Scotland's first LGBT bookshop: later moves to Dundas Street as West and Wilde.
1983 Scottish AIDS Monitor (SAM) is founded.
1983 The first Transvestite/Transsexual Group is founded, and launches the magazine Tartan Skirt.
1983 The Edinburgh and the Lothians Lesbian and Gay Youth Movement (ELLGYM) is founded.
1984 Edinburgh Bisexual Group is founded.
1985 Scotland's second Pride event is held in Edinburgh, with no march but a display of banners on the Mound.
1987 Several activists from Scotland attend a national conference on lesbian & gay rights in London before the General Election that year.
1988 The Scottish Homosexual Action Group (SHAG) is founded in Edinburgh to campaign against “Clause 28”.
1988 The Local Government Act becomes law, with the infamous Section 28 which banned “promotion of homosexuality”.
1989 Stonewall Youth Project founded: later to become LGBT Youth Scotland.
1990 The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act requires licensed fertility clinics to consider a child's “need for a father” when deciding if to provide fertility treatment
1990 Act-Up stages protests in Scotland against unfair decisions about HIV-related funding.
1991 Launch of fundraising and awareness raising for a Glasgow LGBT Centre: opened at 11 Dixon Street in 1995.
1994 Decriminalisation of sex between men reduced from 21 to 18.
1995 Scotland's first formally organised Pride March in Edinburgh from Broughton Street to the Meadows.
1996 Glasgow's first Pride March, with festival on Glasgow Green. Guests included Quentin Crisp.
1996 The Fostering of Children (Scotland) Regulations make it unlawful for a local authority to place a child in foster care with a same-sex couple.
1997 A discriminatory clause proposed for the Sex Offenders Act leads to the foundation of the Equality Network. The first Equality for
All conference is held in Edinburgh after the General Election that year.
1998 Decriminalisation of sex between men reduced to 16.
1998 Scotland Bill amended to add sexual orientation to the Scottish Parliament's definition of equal opportunities, and to give the Parliament the power to legislate to encourage equal opportunities.
1998 Gay Dads Scotland founded by Donald Reid and Dirk Geelen. (There had been lesbian mothers groups in Scotland for at least 20 years before this.)
1999 The Bank of Scotland announces plans for a financial partnership with the homophobic US televangelist Pat Robertson. Mass protests include demonstrations at their historic headquarters on the Mound and many LGBT people and allies, including trade unions and public sector organisations, threaten to withdraw their accounts, or actually do so. The deal falls through.
1999 The European Court of Human Rights rules that the ban on homosexuals serving in the military is unlawful.
2000 After months of bitter campaigning, the Scottish Parliament passes Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Act, which repeals Section 28. Other legislative achievements in 2000 were the passing of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act, which recognised same-sex couples for the first time in Scots law; and the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act passed, which places a duty on education authorities to encourage equality, including on grounds of sexual orientation.
2001 The age of consent was equalised across the United Kingdom.
2001 Beyond Barriers founded: a 3-year project to promote LGBT equality and diversity across Scotland.
2001 First Pride in Aberdeen held in the Duthie Park.
2003 The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 make it unlawful for employers to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation.
2003 First legal recognition in Scotland of a same-sex couple and their children as a family: two lesbian mothers get parental rights and responsibilities for each other's child.
2004 The Gender Recognition Act gives transgender people the right to full legal recognition, including a changed birth certificate.
2005 The Civil Partnership Act becomes law: the first same-sex couples in Scotland register on 20th December.
2006 The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 gives same-sex bidie-ins he same legal rights as mixed-sex bidie-ins with the exception of adoption, fostering, and parental rights following fertility treatment..
2006 LGBT Centre launched in Dumfries and Galloway.
2007 Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in provision of goods, facilities, and services in the UK.
2007 Scottish Transgender Alliance founded: to address issues of prejudice and the lack of information and support for transgender people in Scotland. This is the first time a transgender rights project has been funded by any central government in Europe.
2008 Dumfries and Galloway's first LGBT Pride at Park Farm
2008 Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations extend protection from discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment by banning direct discrimination and harassment by most providers of goods, facilities and services in the UK.
2009 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 becomes law: a child conceived in a same-sex relationship after April 2009 can be born with two mothers.
2009 The Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Act becomes law, recognising homophobic hate crime in Scotland and recognising transphobic hate crime for the first time in the UK.
Monday 28th September 2009 The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 becomes law: the fostering regulations from 1996 are repealed, and same-sex couples have the same right to be assessed as adoptive parents as mixed-sex couples do.

...and into the future...

In the forty years since the first meetings of SMG, this much has been accomplished. What can we achieve in the next forty years?