Having Sex In Private With Someone You Do Not Live With Is Now Illegal In England
From June 1, 2020, new COVID-19 legislation has made it illegal to have sex in your own home with a person that is not living with you officially.
The news comes after certain rules were relaxed by the police.
According to the latest amendment to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations 2020 ill, which came in effect on June 1, 2020, couples that are living separately are not allowed to have sex indoors or to stay overnight at each other’s houses.
The law says:
There is a gathering when two or more people are present together in the same place in order to engage in any form of social interaction with each other, or to undertake any other activity with each other.
No person is allowed to participate in a gathering that takes place in a public or private place outdoors and consists of more than 6 persons or indoors and consists of 2 or more persons.
It is also now illegal to stay somewhere outside of your house overnight, without reasonable excuse.
The excuses that are allowed include:
- Moving house
- Attending funerals
- Work reasons
- Care provision
- Emergency assistance
Authorities said staying over at your partner’s house is not a reasonable excuse to go out during night times.
Authorities in England now have the power to arrest or fine those that break laws intended to protect people during the pandemic, with a default penalty set at £100.
However, officers do not have the power to check inside private properties for such violations.
Indoors, I should add. The government is happy for you to have sex with up to 5 other people in your garden https://t.co/XrG27Fv9Kg
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) May 31, 2020
Award-winning author and anonymous Twitter legend The Secret Barrister released a statement about the new law on Twitter, saying:
Indoors, I should add. The government is happy for you to have sex with up to 5 other people in your garden. To those asking ‘was this not illegal before?’, the answer is complicated. Reg 7 (prohibition on gatherings) didn’t apply to gatherings inside a private address. Reg 6 prohibited leaving your house, but *without reasonable excuse*. Excitingly, this meant that there was scope for somebody to make a legal argument that leaving the house to have sex with a partner was a reasonable excuse. (Optimistic, perhaps, but if the govt approved the ‘eye test defence’, who knows?).
Looks like it is time to make our left or right hand as our partners now…