Wolfenden report Totally Explained

Everything about Wolfenden Report totally explained

The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Lord Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee) was published in Britain on 3 September 1957 after a succession of well-known men, including Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences.

The committee

The committee of 14, including three women, was led by John Wolfenden (1906-1985) who had previously been headmaster of Uppingham and Shrewsbury and in 1950 became Vice Chancellor of the University of Reading. He later became Director of the British Museum.
In addition to the chairman, the committee members were the following:

James Adair OBE, former Procurator-General for Glasgow
Mrs Mary G. Cohen, vice-president of the City of Glasgow Girl Guides, Chairwoman of the Scottish Association of Girls' Clubs
Dr Desmond Curran MB FCP DPM, senior Psychiatrist at St George's Hospital, London and psychiatric consultant to the Royal Navy
Rev Canon V.A. Demant, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford (an Anglo-Catholic)
Mr Justice Diplock QC, Recorder of Oxford and High Court judge
Sir Hugh Linstead, Conservative MP for Putney, and pharmaceutical chemist
Most Hon. the Marquess of Lothian, a Foreign Office minister
Mrs Kathleen Lovibond CBE, chairwoman of the Uxbridge juvenile Magistrates' Court and member of the Conservative women's organisation
Victor Mishcon, solicitor and Labour member of the London County Council
Goronwy Rees, Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
Rev. R.F.V. Scott, Presbyterian Minister of St Columba's Church, London (Church of Scotland)
Lady Stopford; Doctor, Magistrate and wife of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester
William T. Wells, Labour MP for Walsall North and Barrister
Dr Joseph Whitby, general practitioner with psychiatric experience

The committee first met on 15 September 1954 and met on 62 days, 32 of which were used for interviewing witnesses. Wolfenden suggested at an early stage that for the sake of the ladies in the room, that they use the terms Huntley & Palmers after the biscuit manufacturers - Huntley's for homosexuals, and Palmers for prostitutes. Evidence was heard from police and probation officers, psychiatrists, religious leaders, and gay men whose lives had been affected by the law.

The recommendations of the report

Disregarding the conventional ideas of the day, the committee recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence". All but James Adair were in favour of this and, contrary to some medical and psychiatric witnesses' evidence at that time, found that "homosexuality can't legitimately be regarded as a disease, because in many cases it's the only symptom and is compatible with full mental health in other respects." The report added, "The law's function is to preserve public order and decency, to protect the citizen from what is offensive or injurious, and to provide sufficient safeguards against exploitation and corruption of others ... It is not, in our view, the function of the law to intervene in the private life of citizens, or to seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour." The recommended age of consent was 21 (the age of majority in the UK then).
The report also discussed the rise in street prostitution at the time, which it associated with "community instability" and "weakening of the family". As a result there was a police crackdown on street prostitution following the report.
It should be noted that "The enforcement of Morals" by Patrick Devlin, holds different account of the report's outcome. It is stated that " Adultery fornication, and prostitution are not, as the Report points out, criminal offences: homosexuality between males is a criminal offence, but between females it's not."

Aftermath

The report's recommendations attracted considerable public debate, including a famous exchange of views in publications by Lord Devlin, a leading British judge, whose speeches and publications argued against the report's philosophical basis, and H.L.A. Hart, a leading jurisprudential scholar, who provided argument in its support.
The recommendations eventually led to the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, applying to England and Wales only, that replaced the previous laws on homosexuality contained in the Offences Against The Person Act 1861. The law was only narrowly passed and that a decade after the report was published in 1957.
The report's publication was a turning point in the legalisation of homosexuality in Western countries, all of which have now legalized homosexuality and homosexual acts. Most have enacted anti-discrimination and equalised the age of consent between homosexual and heterosexual acts. Many of these countries now have same-sex partnership laws.
John Wolfenden came 45th in a list of the top 500 lesbian and gay heroes, Pink Paper, 26 September, 1997, issue 500, p19.

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