Homosexuals and the Law
Sta,--In his article. 'A New Deal for the Homo- sexual' (February 4). Mr. Christopher Chataway, MP, mentions that both Gallup and NOP now show a clear majority in favour of reform. But let us not pretend that this represents a spontaneous move- ment of public opinion. The probable success of Mr. Humphry Berkeley's Bill is the culmination of an intensive press campaign. We now know all about homosexuals and their problems. If most of them are promiscuous and many have resort to male prostitutes, those are things we have been taught to accept with compassion and understanding.
Back in the 'fifties the press ran another cam- paign. It concerned the female prostitute and her customers. There was nothing said then about com- passion and understanding. The word was 'vice.' The aim was not to enlist sympathy but to promote disgust and intolerance. Around such phrases as 'alarming increase' and 'growing evil' a picture was built up which, if not deliberately false, was cer- tainly at variance with the sum of the evidence be- fore the Wolfenden Committee.
It may be said that the end of the story is just what Wolfenden recommended. Homosexuals and heterosexuals will be equally free to sin in private and equally bound to respect public order and decency. That is not quite true. As a result of the anti-whore campaign—and Lord Butler's refusal to allow his party a free vote on a moral issue—we have the Street Offences Act, 1959. Section 1, which contains the teeth of that repressive measure, relates to 'common prostitutes,' an exclusively female species. Any proposal to extend its scope would he strongly resisted.
So the streets have been cleared for the homo- sexual marketeers who will be free to loiter or for- gather where they please, so long as they do not persistently importune. Only the vendors of that unspeakable vice, heterosexual intercourse, must be kept out of sight. R. L. ARCHDALE
123 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7
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