The past is another country...
Aug. 21st, 2008 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomust...and one of the reasons is Leo Abse M.P., who has died at the age of 91. According to his obituary in the Guardian, he "pioneered more private member's legislation than any other 20th-century parliamentarian", but I will always think of him as the man whose 1967 bill legalised homosexual behaviour between men.
That's 1967, ten years after the government's Wolfenden Report had recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence." And, for that matter, 1967, when I was 16.
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mabfan posts a sample of a list prepared by a US college of things this year's students take for granted (the list is here), things which may not be obvious to their teachers. It's an entertaining, if generalised, snapshot of how things change. Well, until I was 16, having a sexual relationship with another man didn't just make it difficult for you to be a Church of England bishop, it got you sent to prison. And the government was too scared of public opinion to change this, so Leo Abse stuck his neck out.
We sometimes talk as if achieving high office were the only measure of success in politics. But - now more than ever - running for office means being careful, not offending anyone, worrying about public opinion. Looking at the list of legislation he set in motion, I'd call Leo Abse's career a success.
That's 1967, ten years after the government's Wolfenden Report had recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence." And, for that matter, 1967, when I was 16.
mabfan posts a sample of a list prepared by a US college of things this year's students take for granted (the list is here), things which may not be obvious to their teachers. It's an entertaining, if generalised, snapshot of how things change. Well, until I was 16, having a sexual relationship with another man didn't just make it difficult for you to be a Church of England bishop, it got you sent to prison. And the government was too scared of public opinion to change this, so Leo Abse stuck his neck out.We sometimes talk as if achieving high office were the only measure of success in politics. But - now more than ever - running for office means being careful, not offending anyone, worrying about public opinion. Looking at the list of legislation he set in motion, I'd call Leo Abse's career a success.
