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The Sexual Offences Bill, which seeks to decriminalise homosexual acts between consenting adults in private, has just received its second reading in the House of Commons. Its sponsor, Leo Abse, speaks to the Today programme to explain the thinking behind it and the hopes of those MPs who support it.

Abse's bill was eventually passed on 28 July 1967. This is often incorrectly identified as the date when homosexuality was legalised in the UK but, in fact, it was only partially decriminalised at this point. The Act covered consenting males in England and Wales who were over the age of 21 and in the privacy of their own homes. Sexual acts between men who were aged 16 to 20, or who were members of the armed forces, remained criminal offences. The Act did not apply to lesbians, who had not been included in the criminalisation of male homosexuality in the first place.

Aspects of this programme reflect the time when it was made.

From the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Archive.