Lord Arran
Arthur Gore, 8th Earl of Arran (1910–1983), known as Lord Arran, was a Conservative peer who played a pivotal role in the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. He introduced the Sexual Offences Bill in the House of Lords on multiple occasions between 1965 and 1967, ultimately helping to secure the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967.
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Role in the Sexual Offences Act 1967
Despite homosexual law reform being a deeply taboo subject in Parliament, Lord Arran took the courageous step of introducing a Sexual Offences Bill in the House of Lords in December 1965, drawing on the recommendations of the Wolfenden Report of 1957. The Bill passed the Lords on 28 October 1965 by 96 votes to 31, supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey.
The Bill was subsequently introduced in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Humphry Berkeley, but its passage was interrupted by the dissolution of Parliament for the 1966 general election, at which Berkeley lost his seat. Lord Arran reintroduced the Bill in the House of Lords on 26 April 1966, where it passed on 16 June 1966. Labour MP Leo Abse then took up the Bill in the Commons, steering it through to Royal Assent on 27 July 1967.
Lord Arran's statement after the Act
Lord Arran's remarks on the passage of the Act are historically significant — and revealing of the limitations of the era's attitude towards gay men even among supporters of reform:
"This is no occasion for jubilation; certainly not for celebration. I ask those [homosexuals] to show their thanks by comporting themselves quietly and with dignity. Any form of ostentatious behaviour, now or in the future, any form of public flaunting, would be utterly distasteful and would, I believe, make the sponsors of the Bill regret that they have done what they have done. Homosexuals must continue to remember that while there may be nothing bad in being a homosexual, there is certainly nothing good." [1]
The statement illustrates that even the Act's strongest supporters in Parliament did not affirm the dignity or equality of gay men — only their right not to be imprisoned. Full legal equality would take decades more to achieve.
Later work
In 1977 Lord Arran introduced the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill in the House of Lords, which would have lowered the age of consent for homosexual acts from 21 to 18. The Bill did not complete its passage.
See also
References
- ↑ Lord Arran, quoted in The Times, 28 July 1967.
