Consenting Adults: A Study of Homosexuality

A reminder of how difficult, miserable and numbingly lonely times were...

Jeremy James' hyperbole is hard to take...but, those were the times...when gay men were criminalized...when public vilification was the acceptable societal norm.

How times have changed...respect and gratitude to all those who went before us.

Watch...

In the first part of a special 1967 BBC Man Alive report, Jeremy James interviews homosexuals about their feelings and the opinions of society towards them. The contributors include a hairdresser, a doctor and a woman whose husband committed suicide rather than face a court case that would have revealed his sexuality. The language used in the programme is often blunt and reflects the attitudes of the time. This documentary was filmed and broadcast before the Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalised homosexual acts in private in England and Wales between two men who had attained the age of 21.

In the second part of this 1967 BBC Man Alive special report about homosexuality, Angela Huth interviews lesbians about their lives. 'Stevie' has been living as a man since her teens, even entering into heterosexual relationships with other women. Julie and Cynthia have lived together for many years and claim they see no difference between their relationship and that of a married couple. In a private club in Chelsea, lesbians can enjoy a safe haven that allows them to be themselves without risking condemnation from society.