Indoor Sex is now illegal in the UK - sort of

The UK has passed new legislation that bans the gathering of two people from different households indoors together and the implication is that sex in your home with someone from another home is not disallowed, effectively making sex outside of marriage temporarily illegal (for practical purposes anyway).

An amendment to the UK's Health Protection Bill took effect on June 1st and provides some interesting guidance. It notes:

" No person may, without reasonable excuse, stay overnight at any place other than the place where they are living."

Moreover, the law denotes that:

" ...no person may participate in a gathering which takes place in a public or private place outdoors, and consists of more than six persons, or indoors, and consists of two or more persons."

The bill further elucidates the definition of "reasonable excuse" giving a myriad of reasons why staying at someone else's house might allowed including funerals, you are moving, legal obligations, work, live-in care, etc. Notably, it excludes coitus.

Many have taken to social media highlighting that new rule effectively bans the possibility of two consenting adults from staying the night at each other's respective houses and presumably participating in the fullness of a relationship. Or even simply "gathering" together in groups of two, hence this idea that sex outside of your marriage (or household to be clear) is illegal.

Adam Wagner, the host of the BeHuman podcast has had his tweet on the subject (above) retweeted multiple times since posting it with the usual fare of concern, humor, outrage and jest. We are taking the humorous approach here at the CBoardingGroup...

Interestingly, some have suggested that while the law may effectively restrict indoor sex, outdoor sex is perfectly fine (assuming you comply with local decency laws, of course). Moreover, some have gone so far as to suggest a loophole exists in that the use of an escort would potentially be acceptable given it could be construed that such service would be in the fulfillment of work-related activities. Leave it to a lawyer (er, barrister) to find the hooker loophole.

Violators will be fined 100 pounds which could be reduced if paid most haste.

We wonder if this a direct response to that what-his-name-fella who kept sneaking out to see his mistress and catching all the press. Probably.

We find all of this amusing... silly Brits. On the plus side, we needed a good laugh here after what's been a rough week here in the States.

To be clear: we are not lawyers and not offering a legal interpretation of any of this silliness. In fact, we are also Americans so what do we know about British law. But, it is kinda funny still.

If you'd like to read a more serious telling of this story here's a few options:

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