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Section 12: Sexual orientation

Equality Act 2010 · 2010 c. 15View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 2: Equality: key concepts — Chapter 1: Protected characteristics

Sexual orientation means a person's sexual orientation towards—

persons of the same sex,
persons of the opposite sex, or
persons of either sex.

In relation to the protected characteristic of sexual orientation—

a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person who is of a particular sexual orientation;
a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons who are of the same sexual orientation.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.