The Sunday Telegraph reports that UK equalities minister Lynne Featherstone will announce in the new year that gay men who have had consensual sex with a male partner over the age of 16 prior to the increase in the age of consent 10 years ago will have their crimes wiped from their records.
The move will benefit thousands of men who were prosecuted for gay sex with someone over 16 during decades when the practice was against the law.
Currently, they must disclose the information as part of the programme of Criminal Records Bureau checks if they apply to work or volunteer for charities and other organisations.
Getting such a conviction expunged currently requires a lengthy process involving a personal application to a local chief constable.
As the Telegraph explains: "Consensual sex between two men over 21 was decriminalised in 1967. It was not until 1994 that the homosexual age of consent was reduced to 18, and 2000 when it was finally brought into line with the law for heterosexuals by being cut to 16."
As had been reported over the summer, Featherstone is also expected to announce that same-sex civil partnership ceremonies will be allowed in churches all over the UK for the very first time.
