28th July 1967

[endure]

Those of you who are from the UK should be reminded to raise a glass on the 28th of this month to celebrate royal assent being given to the Sexual Offences Act (1967). It brought us the first glimmering of freedom.

[PeaceBlondie]

That surely predates when the US Supreme Court or another high appeals court finally invalidated the Texas Sodomy law, by at least 30 years.

[endure]

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 was passed as a result of the Wolfenden Report, published in 1957 whose main recommendation was:

"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 one of the committee were in favour of this and, contrary to some medical and psychiatric witnesses' evidence at that time, found that "homosexuality cannot legitimately be regarded as a disease, because in many cases it is 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)."

Kewl d00d that John Wolfenden