The document is a House of Commons debate which has been recorded into Hansard; it was recorded on the 19th of June 1960. This was three years after the Wolfenden report was already published. It has documented the verbal debate that Member of Parliament Kenneth Robinson, who had represented the constituency of the borough of St Pancras North. He had raised the debate about the Wolfenden Committee, its findings on how the law conflicted between private and public life of homosexuals and what they had proposed to the House of Commons an alternative solution to the law set on Homosexuality. The committee had been created by David Maxwell-Fyfe, the Home Secretary in 1954, who had appointed the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution under Sir John Wolfenden. The committee had published the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, also known as the Wolfenden Report, and was the first report of its kind to help the government compromise over the actions against homosexuals and prostitutes made by the law. After the documentation and research of many homosexual trials that have been conducted, as well as first hand interviews of homosexuals, this is what the Wolfenden Committee had recommended in order to tackle the discrimination of homosexuals by the public and by the law.
The Wolfenden report was carried out as the result of an increase in arrests and convictions of homosexuals in the end of World War II, some of them being quite controversial. An example would be the trials of two British spies in 1951, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as it was the American security agencies that put strong pressures on their British counterparts to weed out known or suspected homosexuals ...
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...n the Court Case Which Ended the Legal Persecution of Homosexuals." Www.thisislondon.co.uk. ES London Limited, 14 July 2007. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .
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Wildeblood, Peter. Against the Law. New York: J. Messner, 1959. Print.
Wolfenden, John. Turning Points: The Memoirs of Lord Wolfenden. London: Bodley Head, 1976. 141-42. Print.
He continues to support the main claim by showing his knowledge of married couples’ legal rights. He explains that homosexual couples that are not allowed to marry are denied tax breaks, group insurance, and pension programs (Stoddard, 1988, p. 551). These are important grounds,...
Judith R. Walkowitz is a Professor Emeritus at John Hopkins University, specializing in modern British history and women’s history. In her book City of Dreadful Delight, she explores nineteenth century England’s development of sexual politics and danger by examining the hype of Jack the Ripper and other tales of sensational nature. By investigating social and cultural history she reveals the complexity of sexuality, and its influence on the public sphere and vice versa. Victorian London had upheld traditional notions of class and gender, that is until they were challenged by forces of different institutions.
It was celebrated by the homosexual activists fighting for the equal rights in the hope that the future legal advances may follow. Social conservatives have deplored the decision for the same reason. Nevertheless, the ruling of the Court was neutral, therefore it was fair.
homosexual liberation. Some have demonstrated their anger and concerns about prejudice against homosexuals in both riots and artistic forms. Therefore, these people seek to prove to the heterosexual world that homosexual ‘deviancy’ was a myth.
Waldrep, C. The Use and Abuse of the Law: Public Opinion and United Methodist Church Trials of Ministers Performing Same-Sex Union Ceremonies. Law and History Review, 30, 953-1005.
When the Nazi party came to power Paragraph 175 was put in place. This law was adjusted to include further punishment for homosexual men and the code was used as the main tool to arrest both known homosexuals and men suspected of homosexual a...
The background of homosexuality in the 1940’s and 50’s was harsh, but people started to be opened toward the rights. There were criticisms toward homosexuality in the early days of Milk. Gay men carried the labels of mentally ill or psychopathic. Often times, gay men committed suicide from harsh judgement and criticism that always followed them. Even though population of homosexuality grew and had jobs, they were harassed and beaten by the police. There were a lot of disapproval and hostility of homosexuality. Anita Bryant, a singer, made a campaign to oppose the rights of homosexuals. Christian forces and activists withdrew gay-right legislation which lead to Proposition 6. The harshness from background of homosexuality back in the 1940’s and 50’s took the freedom away from the homosexuals. After the harshness, there came a little bit of hope for the homosexuals in San Francisco. Castro, a city in San Francisco, became the center of gay neighborhood. In 1964, gay men formed Society of Individual Right (SIR), and 1,200 members joined. Homosexuals started having good views when Sipple who was gay saved the president from a gunshot. Finally in 1972, Board of Supervisor banned the discrimination law for homosexuals. Even though in 1940...
Homosexuality is a sensitive topic and often avoided in conversation. For centuries the human race has oppressed and persecuted others strictly because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual etc. Although it is disturbing to most of us, these actions still occur in our society today, as many believe that homosexuality is abnormal and disgraceful. One supporter of this belief is Michael Levin, who strongly believes that homosexuality is highly abnormal and thus, undesirable. Although his beliefs and theories supporting this claim are subjective, there is evidence that can support his stance on this topic; we will analyze this claim in further detail and how it relates to his other views mentioned in this essay.
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
The ruling of Baehr vs. Lewin was a victory for gay rights activists, hope for other states searching for the same freedom, and disappointment for opponents of same-sex marriage. Yet this victory was short lived (until complete legalization in November 13, 2013) since the state appealed the lower court’s decis...
The Web. 12 May 2014. Fone, Byrne. A. Homophobia: A History of the.
David Thelen, “History After the Enola Gay Controversy,” JAH 82, no. 3 (December 1995): 1029-1035 https://troy.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_17_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_369657_1%26url%3D (accessed February 15, 2014).
Sociologist Laud Humphreys, used deception to observe men, who were unaware of Humphrey’s topic of research, as sources of the daily lifestyles of homosexual males, in order to help him create his book “Tearoom Trade”. Humphreys was able to find the right data was by recording license plate numbers of the participant, so he can find their addresses, go to their homes and interviewed them. When he released his book however, a few social scientist claimed that Humphreys' research was a violation to professional ethics. I happen to agree with the scientists statement, because this project of knowing more about homosexual’s daily life, in my opinion, is not a good research topic.
John Griffith’s thesis asserted that the English judiciary comprises of judges who as a whole are of ‘a unifying attitude of mind, a political position, to protect and conserve certain values and institutions’. Before the Judicial Appointment Commission was established conservatism was sometimes facilitated by various policies put in place by the Lord Chancellor . ‘Conservatism’ here is used to denote conformity to traditional values as opposed to political ideals. Lord Hailsham, the Conservative Lord Chancellor until 1987 had implemented a policy to appoint only married candidates. Professor Leslie Moran notes that this was clearly a measure to avoid a ‘homosexual controversy’. Only in 1991 was there an official announcement declaring that homosexuality will not be a bar to judicial office.
Wilton, Tamsin. "Which One's the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbain Sex." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 157-70. Print.