BARROW'S shipyard marked the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality by proudly flying the 'Pride' flag.

BAE Systems' offices in Bridge Road were adorned with the flag yesterday, as the gay community celebrated the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act.

The act, introduced on 27 July 1967, decriminalised homosexual acts in private between men aged 21 and over.

Members of the Furness LGBT community welcomed the gesture from the shipyard.

The government announced in September 2016 that gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales would receive posthumous pardons.

It followed the pardoning of World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing for gross indecency in 2013.

The amendment, dubbed the "Turing law", led to about 49,000 men being clearedof crimes of which they would be innocent today.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">were sent ths pic.<a href="https://twitter.com/NWEMlive">@NWEMlive</a> are <a href="https://twitter.com/BAESystemsInc">@BAESystemsInc</a> flying <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pride?src=hash">#Pride</a> flag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/50yrsAnnivesary?src=hash">#50yrsAnnivesary</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SexualOffencesAct?src=hash">#SexualOffencesAct</a> ? not great quality <a href="https://t.co/vyHz7syPXa">pic.twitter.com/vyHz7syPXa</a></p>— furness lgbt (@Furness_LGBT) <a href="https://twitter.com/Furness_LGBT/status/890609098764550144">July 27, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>