The Wolfenden Report believes that morality should be divided into public morality and private morality. Laws, especially criminal laws, have the meaning and value of protecting citizens from infringement and harm, that is, maintaining basic public morals. In the field of private morality, no matter whether it is moral or not, the law should not interfere more. The Wolfenden Report can be said to provide a "theoretical basis" for the gay movement and even the broader human rights movement, and its historical significance is not inferior to the "Stone Wall Rebellion" that will occur in the future.
Such a big-name incident can be traced back to the source, and finally the prototype of the protagonist of the film, Guy Burgess, can be found.
During World War II, the Soviet Union successfully instigated five British spies. Because these five people have studied at the University of Cambridge, they are called the "Five Cambridge Masters", including Guy Burgess. Since these five people were born in the UK and have very good family backgrounds, they can even work in the core departments of the UK government, and their value and significance can be imagined. For this reason, when Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean defected to Moscow in 1951, they shocked the British government and the opposition. And this incident can be regarded as the direct cause of the subsequent "purge" action against homosexuality.
Guy Burgess was an openly homosexual, and his defect made the British police at the time almost regarded "homosexuality" and "treason" as the same. As the "Purge" intensified, many people with identities and prestige were also involved. For example, John Gielgud, known as one of the "three heroes of the British theater", was arrested on charges of "forced indecency."
On March 15, 1954, Edward Montagu and Peter Wildeblood were indicted for molesting two Royal Air Forces. The trial lasted for 8 days and caused widespread public concern. It can be described as the climax of the "cleansing". During the trial, Peter Wildeblood publicly admitted that he was a homosexual. All the defendants involved in the case were found guilty and sentenced to prison. This is the story of "A Very British Sex Scandal" filmed by Channel 4 in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Wolfenden Report.
The continuous "cleansing" caused moral panic in the British society. In order to avoid social unrest, the British government appointed John Frederick Wolfenden on August 24, 1954 to organize a committee to investigate issues such as homosexuality and prostitution. The origin of the Findon Report.
Ten years later, until the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was passed on July 27, 1967, the decriminalization of homosexuality in England and Wales was realized. The legalization of same-sex "partnership" will not be recognized by the Civil Partnership Act 2004 until 2004. If you start from the "Wolfendon Report", this process has passed half a century.
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