Wolfenden Report

/ ˈwʊlfəndən /

noun

1. a study produced in 1957 by the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Britain, which recommended that homosexual relations between consenting adults be legalized

Word History and Origins

Origin of Wolfenden Report¹

C20: named after Baron John Frederick Wolfenden (1906–85), who chaired the Committee

Example Sentences

The programme was mothballed for several years before eventually being broadcast at around the time of the Wolfenden Report which recommended a partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.

From BBC

The pieces will address the Wolfenden Report of 1957, which recommended that homosexuality should not longer be a crime; the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which made gay relationships legal for men aged 21 and over; and the HIV crisis that decimated the gay community in the 1980s.

From BBC

When, for example, the groundbreaking Wolfenden Report appeared the following year, Scottish MPs ignored it and the civil servant James Adair, its Scottish representative, warned the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that supporting its recommendations was to support the right for “perverts to practise sinning for the sake of sinning”.

From The Guardian

To be fair, that was the prevailing attitude in Britain with homosexual acts between men still illegal, although the Wolfenden report in 1957 had recommended decriminalisation, something that would not happen until 1967.

From The Guardian

When the Wolfenden Report on homosexual law reform was published on 4 September 1957, Feather and Chesterman bought newspapers and went into Dean's Park and sat on the grass to read them.

From The Guardian