Unlike religionists who declare themselves bound by laws made thousands of years ago, Humanists take account of the advances of science and form their opinions in the light of modern knowledge. Whereas most adherents of Christianity, Orthodox Judaism and Islam base their stance on homosexuality on texts in ancient 'holy' books which condemn lesbian and gay sexual relationships, modern Humanists take an enlightened, rational approach. They accept the validity of such relationships and give unequivocal support to the continuing campaign for homosexual equality.
Humanist support for gay rights in the UK dates back to the 1950s. The process for homosexual law reform began in 1954 with the appointment of the Wolfenden Committee, and in 1958 the Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS) was set up. There followed a supportive letter published in The Times which was signed by the well-known Humanist philosophers Professor A.J. Ayer and Bertrand Russell, and writers J.B. Priestley and Angus Wilson (later a vice-president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association). Professor Ayer became President of the HLRS and Antony Grey (a GALHA member) its Secretary.
Largely as a result of the efforts of the HLRS, the Sexual Offences Act introduced in 1967 legalised homosexual acts in private by men over the age of 21 but, important though this reform was, it was very limited, and a campaign for complete legal equality, in which GALHA plays a part, continues.
On 22 June 1998, the House of Commons voted by an overwhelming majority to reduce the age of consent for gay men to 16 - the same as for heterosexuals. There followed a campaign spearheaded by Christian peers, notably Baroness Young (who said she spoke as an Anglican), to persuade the House of Lords to reverse this decision. The campaign received the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, most of the House of Bishops, Cardinal Basil Hume (then head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales), former Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits, and the Muslim Council of Britain. It resulted in an overwhelming vote against lowering the age to 16 after a Lords debate held on 22 July 1998. On 25 January 1999, the Commons again voted by a huge majority to lower the age of consent to 16, but this was again rejected by the Lords in a vote on 13 April 1999. In February 2000 the House of Commons voted a third time for an equal age of consent and on 30 November 2000 the legislation was enacted at the end of the 1999-2000 session of Parliament, notwithstanding the continuing opposition of the House of Lords, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949.
Baroness Young and her religious supporters voted against the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 when it was debated in February 2000. After a further debate held on 24 July 2000, the House of Lords again voted it down, thus postponing any further attempt at repeal until after the next General Election. More recently, pressure groups like the Christian Institute (of which Baroness Young is Patron) and Christian Action Research and Education have led a campaign against lesbian and gay employment rights conferred by a new European Directive. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the main opposition to lesbian and gay rights and further law reform comes from religious sources.
In sharp contrast to this opposition, the Humanist movement has provided gays with a good deal of moral and practical support.
The initial sponsors of the 1978 publication Towards a Charter of Homosexual Rights included the prominent Humanists Francis Bennion, Harold Blackham, Lord Fenner Brockway, Professor Anthony Flew, Dr James Hemming, George Melly, Lord Houghton, Montgomery Hyde, Diane Munday, Claire Rayner, Michael Schofield, Barbara Smoker and Nicolas Walter.
The British Humanist Association's official support for homosexual equality was declared in resolutions carried at its 1976 and 1990 AGMs, and a section on homosexuality in its booklet for schools makes this stance clear.
The National Secular Society launched a campaign in defence of Peter Tatchell when he was brought to trial under a nineteenth century religious law in December 1998 for protesting against the Church of England's stance on gay rights. It has also spoken out against religious opposition to gay employment rights.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), which represents millions of Humanists worldwide and has consultative status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe, has been equally supportive. Four pro gay rights resolutions have been carried at IHEU congresses over the past twenty years, including one proposed by GALHA and carried overwhelmingly at the congress held in Mumbai, India, in January 1999. Part of this resolution stated: "IHEU will jointly with its member organisations endorse, defend and promote gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people's interests in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a regular element of their overall endorsement, defence and promotion of human rights".
In 1999, Baroness Turner, a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association, tabled the Sexual Orientation Discrimination Bill in the House of Lords. Humanist MPs like Tony Banks and Ken Livingstone and peers like Baroness Turner and Earl Russell have spoken out strongly in favour of lowering the age of consent to 16 in the parliamentary debates on the issue. They opposed Clause 28 of the Local Government Bill when it was debated in Parliament in 1988 and, in the recent debates, supported the repeal of what is now Section 28.