Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-Perception and Identity in Scotland, 1940 to 1980
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Meek, Jeffrey MacGregor (2011) Gay and bisexual men, self-perception and identity in Scotland, 1940 to 1980. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2602/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-Perception and Identity in Scotland, 1940 to 1980 Jeffrey MacGregor Meek BAHons; MSc Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Economic and Social History School of Social and Political Sciences Submitted September 2010 2 Abstract Limited legal reforms took place in England and Wales in 1967 that partially decriminalised private, adult, consensual homosexual acts. These reforms were not implemented in Scotland until 1980. This thesis documents the reasons why Scotland had to wait until 1980 to achieve legal equity with England and Wales and suggests that the combination of cultural and institutional silences regarding legal reform and an immediate valorization of the independent Scots Law system in the post-Wolfenden era hindered any moves for the 1967 legislation to be applied to Scotland. This thesis then examines the life experiences of 24 gay and bisexual males who had experience of living in Scotland during the period when all homosexual acts were outlawed. This thesis offers an examination of how continued criminalisation coupled with the influence of negative and stigmatising discourses influenced self-perception and identity formation amongst gay and bisexual men. The thesis finds that the operation and dominance of negative discourses regarding homosexuality, coupled with the limited public demand for legal reform had significant implications for the identity formation and attitudes among the gay and bisexual men who participated in this research. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 List of Tables 5 List of Appendices 6 Acknowledgements 7 Author’s Declaration 8 Definitions and Abbreviations 9 1 Introduction 10 Scotland and Homosexual Law Reform 10 Homosexual Identity Formation 12 Research Questions and Aims 13 Chapter Outline 14 2 Homosexuality, Wolfenden, and the ‘Public Interest’ 16 Scotland in Context 16 Wolfenden and Scotland 20 The Scottish Minorities Group and the Law 30 Scottish Churches and Homosexual Law Reform 43 ‘Sexual Delinquents’: A Scottish Perspective 47 The Medical Community and the SMG 54 Summary 57 3 Methods, Methodologies, and Theories 59 The Emergence of Sexual Identities 61 Culture, Subjectivities and Composure in Narratives of Identity 69 Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity, and Oral History 74 Oral History and Sexual Identity 83 Methods 89 Data Analysis 99 4 From Adolescence to Adulthood: Sex Education, Sex, 101 4 and Public Discourse Sex Education 102 Popular Representations of Homosexuality 107 Moments in Time, Literature, and ‘Round the Horne’ 110 Negative Conceptions: Family and Peer Groups 114 Sexual Experiences in Adolescence 116 Assimilation or Difference? 124 Coming Out 142 Summary 149 5 In Sickness and in Health: Interviewees’ Interactions with 152 the Medical Profession Sex Drives and Psychiatry 153 Interviewees and Medical Interpretations of Homosexuality 155 Seeking the Cure 161 Summary 166 6 Conversations with God: Reconciling Religious Identities 168 with Sexual Identities Catholic Guilt, Sin, and Reconciliation 172 Protestantism and Working Within the System 175 Evangelical Christianity, Silence, and Turmoil 180 Summary 192 7 Conclusion 196 Scottish Peculiarities 196 Negative Discourses 200 Individual Responses 203 Contribution to Historiography 205 Reflections 206 Avenues for Future Research 207 Appendices 209 Bibliography 220 5 List of Tables 3.1 Discourses of Homosexuality, Final Version 87 4.1 Interviewees’ Self Definitions of Sexuality 143 6 List of Appendices Appendix 1 209 Appendix 2 213 Appendix 3 214 Appendix 4 215 Appendix 5 217 Appendix 6 218 Appendix 7 219 7 Acknowledgements There are a number of people to whom I owe a considerable amount of thanks. Without them I doubt that I would have been able to complete this journey. Thanks go to my supervisors, Professor Eleanor Gordon and Dr. Rosemary Elliot who have offered a great deal of advice, support and encouragement throughout this academic journey. I also offer thanks to the Economic and Social Research Council who have funded this research. I am indebted to the Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow for providing me with an environment conducive to good research. These words of thanks are also offered to the postgraduate community within this department, who have offered a great deal of support and encouragement. There are a number of other people to whom I owe a great deal. I would like to thank Bob Cant for his words of encouragement throughout my journey and for inspiring me to conduct this research. I also give thanks to my grandfather Bill Williams (1917-2010) who has always been an inspiration to me and who I miss dearly. I would also like to thank my father Gregor Meek who I also lost during my research, and my mother Valerie. Special thanks to Mario Pereira, as without his support and love I would never have had the courage to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies. I also offer my appreciation to Gwyneth Nair who gave me the confidence to enter into postgraduate studies while still an undergraduate at the University of Paisley. I have learned so much during the creation of this thesis and this is partly due to the 24 gay and bisexual men who allowed me to enter their lives and draw from them the inspiration for this thesis. I count myself as fortunate to have matured in a social environment that has been much less condemnatory than what was experienced by them. I would also like to acknowledge the staff at the National Archives of Scotland who were always helpful when I was conducting archival research in Edinburgh. 8 Author’s Declaration I declare that, except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, this thesis is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other institution. Jeff M. Meek 9 Definitions and Abbreviations CHE Committee for Homosexual Equality CNC Church and Nation Committee CSMWC Church of Scotland Moral Welfare Committee GBM Gay or Bisexual Males HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus HLRS Homosexual Law Reform Society ICD International Classification of Diseases LGBT Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender MP Member of Parliament MRG Minorities Research Group NWHLRC North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee RWC/RCHOP Report on the Committee on Homosexual Offences & Prostitution SHRG Scottish Homosexual Rights Group SMG Scottish Minorities Group SNP Scottish National Party SSIDI Semi-structured in-depth interviews Homosexual a term used to denote individuals who are sexually attracted to members of their own gender. In the context of this thesis this term is usually framed within medical or legal discourses. Gay a less formal term for homosexuals. Bisexual an individual who is attracted to both genders Homophobia a term used to describe a wide range of hostile attitudes towards homosexuals 10 Chapter 1 Introduction The passing of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 brought an end to the prosecution of private homosexual acts between consenting male adults aged 21 or over in Scotland. Similar legislation had been applied to England and Wales in 1967 partly as a result of the findings of the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (hereafter the Wolfenden Report) headed by Sir John Wolfenden. The Wolfenden Report, published in September 1957, recommended a limited change in the law to end the criminalisation of homosexual acts.1 Yet, the legal moves that occurred in England and Wales nearly a decade after the publication of the Wolfenden Report were not applied to Scotland. This raises the question as to what was different about Scotland that prevented legal equity with England and Wales until 1980. Scotland and Homosexual Law Reform A number of publications have offered interpretations of how homosexuality was viewed historically in Britain and offered an insight into the processes of homosexual law reform in this country. Jeffrey Weeks has published a variety of works that have attempted to explain how British legislators, politicians, and medics have viewed homosexuality, and how the processes of law reform have developed over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.2 Additionally, Matt Cook et al have offered their interpretations of British society’s relationship with homosexuality since the Middle Ages, and in particular, the shifts in discourses about same-sex desire.3 Stephen Jeffery-Poulter has documented the struggle for law reform regarding homosexual acts in Britain from the 1950s onwards, with particular emphasis on the gay rights movement and the political processes involved in the quest for change.4 1 Home Office Scottish Home Department, Report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1967) (hereafter RWC) 2 For example see, Jeffrey Weeks, Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (London: Quartet Books, 1977); ______, Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800 (London: Longman, 1981); _____, The World We Have Won: The Remaking of Erotic and Intimate Life (London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2007). 3 Matt Cook (ed.), A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men since the Middle Ages (Oxford; Westport, Conn: Greenwood World Pub., 2007).