The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 repealed all criminal provisions regarding homosexuality; setting an equal age of consent for sexual activity between men.

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019

In Northern Ireland, there are no laws restricting the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ+ topics. The infamous section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act did not extend to Northern Ireland.

Per the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (in effect 2005) in all four constituent countries of the UK. The requirements are as follows:
1. Must be 18 years of age
2. Must have a gender-dysphoria diagnosis
3. Must intend "to continue to live in the acquired gender until death"
4. Has lived in the acquired gender for at least 2 years.
5. If married: must acquire the consent of the spouse.

Eligibility is determined by a Gender Recognition Panel and if approved then one is granted a gender recognition certificate and may change the gender marker on legal documents.

However, on April 16th 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that a woman is defined on the basis of “biological sex”. While this still provides some legal gender recognition, it effectively downgrades trans people to not achieve full recognition in law even with a Gender Recognition Certificate.

On May 29th 2024, the UK voted to "close the loophole" by banning private care physicians as well as prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland from prescribing puberty blockers to children for gender incongruence. Those who already had a prescription can continue their treatment.

This measure originally was meant to last from June 3rd until September 3rd, but was extended twice and is now indefinite. It extends to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well (The Sinn Fein gov agreed to follow it and medicines powers are reserved to the UK)

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows for a person to change their legal gender to either 'male' or 'female', there is no third gender option. The law came into effect on 4 April 2005.

In 2021, the UK government said (in response to a petition) that legal recognition of non-binary gender identity would have "complex practical consequences for other areas of the law, service provision and public life", and said that they felt existing legislation allowing people to change their legal gender went far enough. Courts have, however, ruled that people with non-binary identities are protected from discrimination by the Equality Act.

On 4 October 2023, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asserted his stance on gender identity in a speech at the Conservative Party conference, stating it was “common sense” that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.

In January 2024, the High Court in London ruled that (in the case of a US citizen trying to have their non-binary identity recognised in the UK), "We have decided that whenever the Gender Recognition Act refers to ‘gender’ it refers to a binary concept – that is, to male, or to female gender. The GRP [Gender Recognition Panel] accordingly, had and has no power to issue a gender recognition certificate to the claimant which says that they are ‘non-binary’".

The act applied to the entire UK, and Scotland's attempts to recognise non-binary genders have all failed.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been illegal in some areas since 1999, when employment protections were extended to transgender individuals. In 2003, these protections were further extended to all LGBT people, and in 2007, LGB individuals gained protections against employment discrimination, but not gender-diverse individuals.

The 1999 Gender Reassignment Regulations amended sex discrimination protections to include gender identity, then in 2003, new legislation was passed protecting people from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Protections in housing discrimination were extended to LGB people with the "The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2006", taking effect in 2007. Currently, they are not extended to protect people on the basis of gender identity.

The 2002 adoption act, which did not take effect until the next year, specifically defined a couple as: "two people (whether of different sexes or the same sex) living as partners in an enduring family relationship", expressly permitting same-sex adoption.

In the UK it is illegal to perform medical treatment onto any person without consent. For infants, consent is given by their parents on their behalf under the Children’s Act

The Ministry of Defence were forced to change their stance on when the European Court of Human Rights ruled in September 1999 that the then current ban on gays in the military was unlawful.

Northern Ireland's blood donation criteria were brought in line with UK rules in August 2021, after being delayed since June 2021. They removed any sexuality-specific deferral periods.

UK law does not currently prohibit conversion therapy in any way. Conversion therapy bans have been discussed for many years. PM Boris Johnson promised to ban conversion therapy in July 2020 and this was reiterated in 2021. In March 2022, the plans were dropped, only for a partial U-turn just hours later when the government announced that the ban would go ahead but not cover trans people. On January 17 2023, the government announced they'd pass a new law to include transgender people in the conversion therapy ban.

In July of 2024, new prime minister Kier Starmer announced his government would put forward a bill to ban conversion therapy. This ban would include sexual orientation and gender identity. As of March 2025, this bill is yet to be introduced.