The demonising of homosexuals in postwar Britain

Not every human culture leaves clear and legible accounts of itself. Here we have a comparatively recent way of life which we know thousands of men led. It was proscribed, and those who lived within it had good reasons to conceal their participation and nature, usually taking care not to leave any records. Invisible and, even at this short distance, impossible completely to understand, the culture of male homosexuals in London was only partially legalised in 1967. Before that has to be interpreted through material which is intrinsically unsatisfactory.

A comparison might be drawn to the textual means historians have of understanding another proscribed culture, the early Christians in Rome. What we have are comments by outside observers, such as Tacitus or Celsus, who obviously didn’t understand, and whose views were driven by hostility. There were times when members of the secretive circle were too strident to be ignored and had to be punished.