Gay and bisexual men in Scotland prosecuted for consensual same-sex activity will receive an automatic pardon under a law which came into effect on Tuesday aiming to correct a "historic wrong" but stopped short of offering compensation. The law will cover anyone convicted for same-sex activity which is no longer illegal, ranging from gay sex to kissing or flirting, and those affected can apply to have their former police record 'disregarded' or wiped clean.

Hundreds of men in Scotland were living with criminal records as a result of such discriminatory former laws, estimated LGBT+ rights group Equality Network, which said the convictions had hampered careers and overshadowed men's lives.

"We know of people who were prosecuted as late as the early 1990s for things like kissing their boyfriend in the street," said director Tim Hopkins, adding that for men prosecuted in earlier decades especially it could have been "devastating".

"A conviction like this could have meant the end of your career, it could have meant losing your friends, it could have meant losing your family, all of those huge impacts," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The pardons and the disregard can't undo all of the harm done by these discriminatory laws but they do at least give some comfort to people."

Scotland legalised same-sex activity between men in 1980, though it was not until 2001 that the age of consent was equalised between gay and heterosexual couples. Read more via Reuters