The Rites of Man

Before and after 1979 the Equal Opportunities Commission campaigned vigorously against the Conservatives' election policy to stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK.
By law the EOC was obliged to support complaints from men.
So I complained to it that foreign men were allowed to live in the UK through marriage even though British men often could not live in their countries through marriage.
The EOC's response was that my complaint was out of its ambit.
So I complained to the European Commission of Human Rights about the EOC's failure to support my complaint. Its response was that I should challenge the EOC in the UK courts.
To this end I sought legal aid. My finances entitled me to it (I was getting divorced). But the Law Society refused it.
On 7 July 1983 the House of Lords determined that the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act did not apply to immigration control. This was in the case of Regina vs Entry Clearance Officer, Bombay, Ex parte Amin.
Therefore the EOC's campaign was illegal.
Furthermore the European Commission of Human Rights acted against its own rules. Article 26 of the Convention had not been complied with: because not all domestic remedies had been exhausted when on 11 May 1982 it determined in favour of three women whose husbands were not allowed to live in the UK.