Decriminalisation Observed

The Observer has published a series of articles to mark the 40th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of sexual acts between men.

Coming out of the dark ages by Geraldine Bedell brings together the experiences of Antony Grey, Alan Horsfall and Leo Abse in an detailed evocation of the circumstances which led to the Sexual Offences Act 1967 receiving its Royal assent on 28 July 1967.

Current leading gay figures give their own perspective in What liberation did for us... while Philip French remembers his friendship with Jeremy Wolfenden, the gay son of the author of the report in We saw the light, but too late for some.

Further reading:
* Quest for Justice: Towards Homosexual Emancipation, Antony Grey, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992
* Against the Law, Peter Wildeblood, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1955 (republished)
* Live and Let Live: The Moral of the Wolfenden Report, Dr. Eustace
Chesser, Heinemann, 1958
* A Minority. A Report on the Life of the Male Homosexual in Great Britain, Gordon Westwood, with a foreword by Sir John Wolfenden, Longmans, 1960
* www.gaymonitor.co.uk, Alan Horsfall's website.