The Collapse of the Moral Consensus

During the 1970s, the contradictions of the new legal settlement on which homosexual law reform in England and Wales was based began to unravel, and British society faced new dilemmas in working out its approach towards same-sex attraction, gay rights, and alternative lifestyles. In the context of this uncertainty and the rise of its own internal disagreements, the church fell back on strategies of mediation and thus struggled to formulate a coherent response. This chapter considers published and unpublished reports on homosexuality produced by the church’s moral welfare organisations. It discusses changing relationships between church organisations and the developing gay movement, the rise of extremes of Anglican opinion, and the church’s gradual demise as a former expert authority on issues of homosexuality.