Dudgeon v. United Kingdom was a European Court of Human Rights case, similar to the U.S. cases Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas. European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg The European Court of Human Rights, often referred to informally as the Strasbourg Court, was created to systematise the hearing of human rights complaints from Council of Europe member states. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... Holding A Georgia law prohibiting sodomy was valid because there was no constitutionally protected right to engage in homosexual sodomy. ... Holding A Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy violated the liberty under the Fourteenth Amendment of adults to engage in private intimate conduct. ...

Jeffrey Dudgeon was a shipping clerk and gay activist in Belfast, Northern Ireland when he was interrogated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary about his sexual activities. He filed a complaint with the European Commission of Human Rights which declared his complaint admissible to the European Court of Human Rights. On 22 October 1981 the Court agreed with the Commission that the criminalisation in Northern Ireland of homosexual acts between consenting adults was a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Despite this violation, he ruling continued, "it was for countries to fix for themselves...any appropriate extension of the age of consent in relation to such conduct."