I was a lawyer, but I committed a crime for love of my partner.

I met my partner when I moved to a bar in London to study in 1967.

We had a happy relationship for 52 years before his untimely death.

Homosexuality was criminalized before our relationship, but we still broke the law as a couple because I was 22 years old, he was 19 years old.

For sex to be legal, it had to be done in private between the agreeing parties, and both had to be 21 or older.

This did not stop us, and we continued this ongoing criminal system for the next two years until he was 21 years old.

We could be held criminally liable, but from the earliest days of apprenticeship my ward was complete about my sexuality, especially since I requested to bring my partner to every social opportunity.

He found warmth and love.

Legal matters at that time were completely different.

It was a very small profession, we had less than 2,000 lawyers nationwide.

We were all educated, mostly white and moderately conservative, public school educated men.

And no one came out.

It was an official radar situation, but the reality was quite different.

That’s because I belonged to a group of polite, decent and kind men (there were no women among us at the time). So the man continued to work with life, while everything seemed comfortable.

Then came Section 28.

This harmful and excessive Thatcherism, which banned the spread of “homosexuality” in schools in 1988, seems to have sparked an explosion of hidden homosexual loathing that was previously dominated by many fictional streetwalkers.

Jokes and cartoons about “Mr. Guys” were mixed up in gangster rooms across the country (let’s go with formal clothes), and nobody -absolutely nobody- because they weren’t coming out at the time, we kept the infamous. silence. ..

But many of us thought that no matter what the robbery room culture threw at us, it wouldn’t affect our chances of advancing in our profession.

Why was it wrong?

I knew that my case was going well and that by being appointed as a recording assistant, I had the right to reach the bottom of the judicial ladder.

However, the Lord High Chancellor’s officials at the time were summoned to see the Lord High Chancellor Sir Baron Hailsham saying that he would never appoint a gay man as a judge at any level.

I left the session a mess, but was buoyed by the suggestion that I might still be considered a candidate for Silk, although I was clearly not fit to sit as a judge…

After years of paperwork and procedures, as a junior attorney, I was more interested in the more measured life of QC.

For a small but big case, I expected financial support to avoid most young children, especially those working in the publicly funded sector.

Make a mistake again!

At that time, I definitely deserved to practice silk, but I was hampered by an influential senior judge whose “with my body” attitude was superior to that of civil servants.

It was 1993 now. Sir McKay, then Prime Minister, was completely unaware of what was going on behind him and always treated me courteously and fairly.

At that point, I was able to continue my youthful life beyond the paperwork, juggling the court diary and the baffled justice judge in the event of a one-minute delay.

Fortunately, he had an ally. In the 1990s it was led by Derry Irvine, who was often the Shadow Lord’s High Chancellor, and many Welsh local governments acted in favor of endless clashes with the Tory regime.

He understood what was happening and decided to confront the installation.

An experienced tactician, he obtained permission from then Labor leader John Smith and presented it to an official who was blocking my appointment in the ultimatum.

“We all agree this guy deserves silk and he is blocking it with unfounded superstitions so he will get silk this year or the opposition leaders will lift it!!

They were strong and powerful words, and I’m glad they worked.

My date arrived, ironically, on April 1, 1993.

Since then, I have enjoyed a diverse and productive life, doing what I love at the level of enjoyment and financial stability it brings.

How the life of a person like me has changed! Instead of being whispered about, diverse sexuality is not only tolerated, but also celebrated.

The introduction of the Civil Union by the Labor government and the subsequent same-sex marriage by the Conservative David Cameron changed the situation.

A rookie gay lawyer no longer needs to hide his feelings and is not even forced to participate in making fun of his colleagues.

There are openly gay senior judges, parliamentarians, government ministers and inner temples hosting a dinner celebrating the legal LGBTQ+ community on June 25.

So life today is vastly different from the 1960s when I was young. But still, I warn you not to be too satisfied.

There is a very real concern that the same stigma that marked gay men and women when I was young is now felt by members of the transgender community.

We are now more aware and understanding than previous generations, but transgender colleagues have yet to achieve the dignity and respect previously denied to other marginalized groups.

We have to learn from the mistakes of the past, otherwise we will repeat them in the future.