The Wolfenden Report was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957. The landmark report outlined the findings of a Committee of fifteen members, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden. The Committee invited witnesses to give written and oral evidence on the issues; these witnesses included medical and legal professionals, government departments, local authorities and the police. The Committee were appointment in August 1954 to consider:
- The law and practice relating to homosexual offences and the treatment of persons convicted of such offences by the courts; and
- The law and practice relating to offences against the criminal law in connection with prostitution and solicitation for immoral purposes.
The laws relating to ‘homosexual offences’ were found in the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and some common law offences. Following the in-depth analysis of the issues, the Committee determined that it was not the function of the law to intervene in the private life of citizens. It stated: ‘It is not, in our view, the function of law to intervene in private lives of citizens, or to seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour. It follows that we do not believe it to be a function of the law to attempt to cover all the fields of sexual behaviour.’ The Committee also rejected the idea that homosexuality was a disease. The report recommended ‘that homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private be no longer a criminal offence.’ On the age of consent, the Committee recommended consent for same-sex sex acts be ‘fixed at twenty-one.’
The Wolfenden Report recommendations on ‘homosexual acts’ were enacted in the Sexual Offences Act 1967 in England and Wales.
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