Derrick Bailey

Who was Derrick Bailey?

Derrick Sherwin Bailey was a Christian theologian, whose 1955 work Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition paved the way for the production of the 1957 Wolfenden Report and for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's decriminalization of homosexuality in England and Wales a decade later.

"Under the guidance of the Rev. Dr. Derrick Sherwin Bailey, a group of clergy, doctors and lawyers studied the existing materials on homosexuality. They then produced a privately printed pamphlet titled The Problem of Homosexuality. This interim report, written by Bailey, signalled the first twentieth-century extended treatment of homosexuality by an ecclesiastical body. Not only did it examine the current medical, psychological, and sociological literature, but it also sought to address the role of the Church of England in the issue of reforming the law. The Moral Welfare Council recognized the role of the State in regulating society, but it also acknowledged that the rights of the homosexual were being violated, and this issue needed to be addressed.