Wakefield Museums and Castles

In 1954 the government set up a committee to lead an enquiry into homosexuality. Gay relationships between men had been illegal since 1885.

The 1954 committee was led by Lord Wolfenden. Sir John Wolfenden grew up in Wakefield. He went to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School.

Wolfenden published his report in 1957. It recommended that relationships between consenting men should not be a crime.

It took another 10 years for this to become law. In 1967 homosexuality was partly decriminalised.

Gay relationships became legal for most men over 21. The age of consent for relationships between men and women was 16 at the time.

This book, with a foreword by Wolfenden, came out in 1967. The same year that the law passed. The law was a big step forward in gay rights. It helped to slowly change public opinion.

However, the Wolfenden Report still called gay relationships "immoral." Its recommendation came from the belief that people's relationships should be a private matter, not governed by public laws.