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Beyond toleration: privacy, citizenship and sexual minorities in England and Wales

Beyond toleration: privacy, citizenship and sexual minorities in England and Wales
Beyond toleration: privacy, citizenship and sexual minorities in England and Wales
This paper examines two significant moments in sexual minority citizenship in England and Wales in relation to one of the Marshallian sets of rights, namely, civil or legal rights, focusing specifically on the Sex Offences legislation and policing practices. The first moment that will be examined here is the process whereby homosexual acts were decriminalized in the 1950s and 1960s; here special attention will be paid to the recommendations made by the Wolfenden Committee. The second moment is one we are currently experiencing, which is associated with the inclusive policing of sexual minority communities (especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities) under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and in the review of Sex Offences, especially in the consultation paper (Home Office 2000) and White Paper (Home Office 2002) associated with this review. Privacy and toleration dominate the first moment, at the same time it shall be demonstrated that privacy is also central to the British Sexual Citizenship literatures that have emerged in sociology in the post-Wolfenden context. However, as the title suggests, the second moment under examination points to the emergence of a rather more extensive sexual minority citizenship beyond the boundaries of 'homosexual privacy' (which British Sexual Citizenship Studies is not currently engaging with) and perhaps even beyond the boundaries of toleration through ever more 'inclusive' policing strategies and through the review of sex offences in which many discriminatory laws are being 'de-homosexualized'.
toleration, privacy, sexual citizenship, lesbian, gay, hate crime
0007-1315
0007-1315
357-375
McGhee, Derek
63b8ae1e-8a71-470c-b780-2f0a95631902
McGhee, Derek
63b8ae1e-8a71-470c-b780-2f0a95631902

McGhee, Derek (2004) Beyond toleration: privacy, citizenship and sexual minorities in England and Wales. British Journal of Sociology, 55 (3), 357-375. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2004.00024.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper examines two significant moments in sexual minority citizenship in England and Wales in relation to one of the Marshallian sets of rights, namely, civil or legal rights, focusing specifically on the Sex Offences legislation and policing practices. The first moment that will be examined here is the process whereby homosexual acts were decriminalized in the 1950s and 1960s; here special attention will be paid to the recommendations made by the Wolfenden Committee. The second moment is one we are currently experiencing, which is associated with the inclusive policing of sexual minority communities (especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities) under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and in the review of Sex Offences, especially in the consultation paper (Home Office 2000) and White Paper (Home Office 2002) associated with this review. Privacy and toleration dominate the first moment, at the same time it shall be demonstrated that privacy is also central to the British Sexual Citizenship literatures that have emerged in sociology in the post-Wolfenden context. However, as the title suggests, the second moment under examination points to the emergence of a rather more extensive sexual minority citizenship beyond the boundaries of 'homosexual privacy' (which British Sexual Citizenship Studies is not currently engaging with) and perhaps even beyond the boundaries of toleration through ever more 'inclusive' policing strategies and through the review of sex offences in which many discriminatory laws are being 'de-homosexualized'.

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More information

Published date: 2004
Keywords: toleration, privacy, sexual citizenship, lesbian, gay, hate crime

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 33883
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/33883
ISBN: 0007-1315
ISSN: 0007-1315
PURE UUID: 27ca50f4-2f1e-4a28-bba0-505c04d132aa
ORCID for Derek McGhee: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3226-6300

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Date deposited: 15 May 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:45

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Author: Derek McGhee ORCID iD

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