Pardons for men who were convicted of homosexual offences will officially come into effect from June this year.

A clause within the Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Bill 2021 will be activated, paving the way for individuals to automatically receive pardons.

Once this clause is in place, a person who has been convicted of a historical sexual offence may apply to the government for the conviction to be disregarded.

The move has been welcomed by LGBTQ+ campaigners on the island as one which is long overdue.

Former gay rights campaigner Alan Shea has said the pardons can’t come soon enough.

Mr Shea made headlines 30 years ago when he dressed in the striped uniform of a Nazi concentration camp victim at the foot of Tynwald Hill on Tynwald Day in 1991.

As a result of his Petition for Redress of Grievance to decriminalise homosexuality, and the attention his protest drew to the issue, private and consensual acts of male homosexuality on the island were decriminalised in 1992 - 25 years later than in England and Wales, and 12 years after Scotland.

Whilst the pardons are welcome, Mr Shea argues an apology still needs to be issued by the island’s police.

Speaking to Isle of Man Newspapers in the days after the island’s historic first Pride festival last year, Mr Shea said: ’I still to this given day believe that the Isle of Man police should apologise for what they did.’

Despite the fact homosexuality was decriminalised in 1992, it took until January 2020 for the Manx Government to provide a formal apology.

As the Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Bill 2021 had its final reading in the House of Keys, Chief Minister Howard Quayle issued an ’unqualified apology’ to gay men convicted of same-sex offences under previous Manx laws.

Mr Shea said: ’We’ve had [an apology] from the Isle of Man government, but the police should apologise because they were the ones that were persecuting the gay men.

’There are people who lost their children when they were 20 years of age.

’When they were arrested by the police, they [were told] "we’re going to tell your job, we’re going to go around and tell your parents" and before they know it, the police are at their [parents’] door, saying "your son’s killed himself".

’That’s not nice. And that’s at the hands of the police, from [their] persecution.’

Mr Shea is not the only one who has called for an apology from police.

Internationally recognised gay rights champion Peter Tatchell spoke at an event on the island last year saying that the current chief constable should issue a formal apology.

He said: ’I would urge him to do so to draw a line under the dark, dark days when gay and bisexual men were victimised. At least two young men committed suicide as a result of police victimisation.

’They and their loved ones deserve a police apology.’