The achievement of an equal age of consent for gay men has been probably more central to the lesbian and gay movement in Britain than in any other Western country.
This is surely one of the major reasons why debates such as those around gay marriages have had less impact here than in Continental Europe or North America.
In the dying days of the last Parliamentary session, despite what we have been told by Blairite icon Stephen Twigg MP, lesbians and gay men were betrayed by New Labour. Many readers of Socialist Outlook may think this is no surprise – this has happened countless times to virtually every section of the community since May 1 1997.
However it had seemed that on this issue it was actually in Blair’s interests to make these concessions. It was not only that there had been long standing Party policy won by the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (LCLGR) which has itself been supported by the whole political spectrum of the party, but that some progressive changes on questions of sexual politics - though not anything approaching real equality – fits with Blair’s ideological pretensions to modernity.
While Blair is as determined as his predecessors to paint himself as a " family man", he wants to incorporate into that definition the changing patterns in emotional and sexual relations that have taken place in the last decades.
So his concern with single parents is not a moral one – rather he seeks to force them into the workforce – for poverty wages of course.
It is in this context that it seemed that the barrier of the age of consent might fall - and indeed it still might in the new parliamentary session.
In July however under pressure from reactionaries, other issues took precedence. On the one hand there was determination to see the rest of Straw’s Bill go through unscathed.
On the other hand there was an unwillingness to challenge homphobic bigotry either in the Commons or the Lords. On this altar so far at least the New Labour Prime Minister has been prepared to sacrifice his ‘with-it’ image.
The role of the Church of England in defeating these changes was no surprise. Just weeks later, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, steered the Lambeth Conference to a decision which argued that gay sex was incompatible with the Scriptures.
Carey argued "I see no room in the holy Scriptures for any sexual activity outside holy matrimony of a husband and wife".
This was the first time that homosexuality has been debated by the Lambeth Conference, which meets every ten years. Crucial to the position adopted was political manoeuvring which sought to trade opposition to Third World Debt from western churches with opposition to homosexuality. Attempts to portray homosexuality as a "white disease" have been a weapon increasingly used by the Republican right in the United States as well.
The fear that independent Evangelical communions are winning the battle for souls against the more traditional Anglican Churches also played an important part in the Lambeth Conference debate. Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition has been at the forefront of the battle against gay marriages in the United States.
Against such determined ideologues, it is not just Blair who has no answer. Those in the lesbian and gay community who believe that a few more of our kind openly in the House of Commons will automatically lead to significant changes have been sadly disappointed.
Whether or not the legal changes go through in the next months, it is vital to return to mass action.