Britain’s lesbian families ‘scandal’
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In January 1978 a London newspaper revealed how several British lesbians had conceived babies using donor sperm with the help of a respected gynaecologist. The doctor hadn’t broken any laws in providing the fertility treatment but the stigma surrounding homosexuality at the time meant the revelations started a media frenzy and a heated national debate. There were discussions in the press, in the streets and in Parliament. One MP called for a ban on the practice and called it ‘evil’, ‘selfish’ and ‘horrific’. Dr Gill Hanscombe had used artificial insemination to start a family with her two lesbian partners. When the press found out about them she was terrified that they were about to lose their jobs, and potentially their child. Produced and presented by Viv Jones.
(PHOTO: Gill Hanscombe (left) with her partners Dee and Pru, and their son. Courtesy of Gill Hanscombe.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.0 | This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:44.1 | I'm Viv Jones. |
| 0:47.7 | Today I'm taking you back to the 1970s |
| 0:50.6 | when a story in a British newspaper about children being raised by lesbian mothers |
| 0:55.0 | caused a national scandal and a heated public debate. |
| 0:59.0 | My name is Dr. Jill Hanscom. I'm a retired writer academic I'm not a retired lesbian I'm still a lesbian I had |
| 1:11.6 | I had always wanted to be a mother but because I'd also always been a lesbian |
| 1:18.0 | I couldn't want to do that |
| 1:23.0 | get married, have a baby. |
| 1:25.0 | And I didn't want to do that. |
| 1:27.0 | So I pressed down this longing to be a mother. Back in the 70s when Jill was in her 20s things were going pretty well for her. |
| 1:38.6 | She'd moved to London from Australia and found work as a school teacher and although she couldn't be out at work, |
| 1:44.8 | she was making friends in London's lesbian circles. It wasn't long before she met Jackie Forster, |
| 1:50.3 | a prominent activist who ran a lesbian organization called Safo. |
| 1:54.0 | Here's Jackie talking about a pivotal Safo meeting in a BBC documentary. |
| 1:59.0 | Women were discussing because they couldn't adopt or foster because of being lesbians. |
... |
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