Summary
Why have British attitudes towards homosexuality changed so far and so fast? Less than 50 years ago, sex between men was a criminal act. Now they can marry. It's not just the law that has changed: we have. Surveys suggest that public opinion about homosexuality has undergone a dramatic shift over the same period. Jo Fidgen asks what drives this kind of change in collective attitudes. Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading analysis. I think you'll really enjoy this program. It comes out of a conversation we were having about how societies change their minds and we decided to focus on one particular remarkable example. Here's Joe Fitchin. In February |
| 0:14.6 | 1967, listeners to the home service were treated to Julian and Sandy, the |
| 0:20.5 | outrageously camp couple from round the horn horn turning their hands to the legal profession. |
| 0:25.7 | Oh what brings you trolley in here? Can you help me? I've erred. Yeah we've all erred ducky. |
| 0:31.2 | That means common knowledge, isn't it? |
| 0:33.0 | Oh, what? |
| 0:34.0 | Will you take my case? |
| 0:35.0 | Well, it depends on what it is. |
| 0:37.0 | We've got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time. |
| 0:40.0 | Yes, but apart from that. |
| 0:50.0 | When that was broadcast 48 years ago, it was criminal for men to have sex with men. You could go to prison for it. |
| 0:52.0 | Compare then with now. |
| 0:54.3 | So it only remains for me now with the greatest pleasure |
| 0:58.2 | to declare that you are husband and husband. |
| 1:01.9 | So congratulations, you may kiss the groom. |
| 1:05.0 | What a remarkable turnaround and it's not just the law that's changed. We have. |
| 1:13.0 | For the last three decades or so, the British Social Attitudes Survey has been asking us what we think of homosexuality. |
| 1:20.0 | When we first started asking people this question back in 1983, just over 60% of people said that |
| 1:26.4 | sexual relations between two adults of the same sex were always wrong or mostly wrong. |
| 1:31.2 | Now that figure is just over 20%, so one in five. A massive shift. |
| 1:37.0 | Absolutely huge, yes. What explains that shift? This isn't a program about homosexuality and certainly not about whether it's right or wrong. |
| 1:47.0 | It's about what drives social change. |
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