Portrait of Lord Wolfenden

In 2013 the Vice Chancellor, Sir David Bell, wrote an article for Pink News about another University of Reading Vice-Chancellor: Lord Wolfenden. As well as being the University of Reading’s Vice-Chancellor between 1950 and 1964, Lord Wolfenden also chaired a Home Office committee whose report paved the way for the legalisation of homosexuality.

The committee spent 3 years hearing evidence before finally concluding that homosexuality was a matter of private morality and so should not be a criminal offence. This generated considerable controversy in the press and much public discussion, with the report selling 15,000 copies in the first three months after publication. Although the government avoided this political problem and waited for 10 years before legalising homosexual acts for those aged 21 or over, Lord Wolfenden’s report was key in instigating this change.

Read Sir David’s article in full on Pink News.