{{Short description|1976 blasphemy court case in the United Kingdom}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{italic title}} '''''Whitehouse v Lemon''''' is a 1976 court case involving the [[blasphemy law in the United Kingdom]]. It was the last successful blasphemy trial in the UK.

=="The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name"==

"The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name" is a poem by [[James Kirkup]]. It is written from the viewpoint of a Roman [[centurion]] who describes having sex with [[Jesus]] after his crucifixion, and also says that Jesus had had sex with other men including disciples, guards, and [[Pontius Pilate]].<ref name=pink/> The poem itself was considered of low artistic value, both by critics and the author himself.<ref name=obit/>

In 1976, the poem was published in ''[[Gay News]]'', with an accompanying illustration.<ref name=pink>{{cite web|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no byline-->|title=The gay poem that broke blasphemy laws|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/01/10/the-gay-poem-that-broke-blasphemy-laws/|website=Pink News|accessdate=25 February 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603121627/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/01/10/the-gay-poem-that-broke-blasphemy-laws/|archivedate=3 June 2012|date=10 January 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=obit>{{cite news| title=James Kirkup (obituary)| newspaper=The Telegraph | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/5314221/James-Kirkup.html |date=12 May 2009}}</ref>

== Prosecution == In early November 1976, [[Mary Whitehouse]] obtained a copy of the poem and announced her intention to bring a [[private prosecution]] against the magazine. Leave to bring this prosecution was granted on 9 December 1976. The charges named Gay News Ltd and Denis Lemon<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-denis-lemon-1415565.html 1945 – 1994]</ref> as the publishers. A charge against Moore Harness Ltd for distributing was subsequently dropped. The indictment described the offending publication as "a [[blasphemous libel]] concerning the [[Christianity|Christian]] religion, namely an obscene poem and illustration vilifying [[Christ]] in his life and in his crucifixion".

The Gay News Fighting Fund was set up in December 1976. Judge [[Alan King-Hamilton]] [[Queen's Counsel|QC]] heard the trial at the [[Old Bailey]] on 4 July 1977, with [[John Mortimer|John Mortimer QC]] and [[Geoffrey Robertson|Geoffrey Robertson QC]] representing the accused and <!-- Not a QC until 1979. -->[[John Smyth (barrister)|John Smyth]] representing Mary Whitehouse.

=== Verdict and sentence === On Monday 11 July, the jury found both defendants guilty. Gay News Ltd was fined £1,000.{{efn|£1,000 in 1976 equates to approximately £{{Inflation|UK|1000|1976|fmt=c|cursign=£|r=-3}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, according to calculations based on the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{Inflation-fn|UK}}}} Denis Lemon was fined £500 and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, suspended.{{efn|£500 in 1976 equates to approximately £{{Inflation|UK|500|1976|fmt=c|cursign=£|r=-3}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, according to calculations based on the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{Inflation-fn|UK}}}} It had been "touch and go", said the judge, whether he would actually send Denis Lemon to jail.

Mary Whitehouse's costs of £7,763 were ordered to be paid four-fifths by Gay News Ltd and one-fifth by Lemon.{{efn|£7,763 in 1976 equates to approximately £{{Inflation|UK|7763|1976|fmt=c|cursign=£|r=-3}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, according to calculations based on the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{Inflation-fn|UK}}}}

=== Appeals === Gay News Ltd and Denis Lemon appealed against conviction and sentence. On 17 March 1978, the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]] [[quashed]] Denis Lemon's suspended prison sentence but upheld the convictions on the basis that the law of blasphemy had been developed before ''[[mens rea]]'', literally, a "guilty mind", became an essential element of a crime.

''Gay News'' readers voted by a majority of 20 to 1 in favour of appealing to the [[House of Lords]]. The [[Law Lord]]s heard the appeal against conviction and delivered their judgement on 21 February 1979.

At issue was whether or not the offence of blasphemous libel required specific intent of committing such a blasphemy. By a majority of 3 to 2, the Lords concluded that intention was not required. [[Lord Scarman]] was of the opinion that blasphemy laws should cover all religions and not just Christianity and sought [[strict liability]] for those who "cause grave offence to the religious feelings of some of their fellow citizens or are such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to read them".<ref>R v Lemon [1979] AC 617, 664</ref> The appeal was lost.

The [[European Commission of Human Rights]] declared the case inadmissible to be heard by the [[European Court of Human Rights]] on 7 May 1982. The £26,435 raised by the Gay News Fighting Fund through benefits and donations from the gay community and others,{{efn|£26,435 in 1982 equates to approximately £{{Inflation|UK|26435|1982|fmt=c|cursign=£|r=-3}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, according to calculations based on the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{Inflation-fn|UK}}}} including a £500 donation from [[Monty Python]],{{efn|£500 in 1982 equates to approximately £{{Inflation|UK|500|1982|fmt=c|cursign=£|r=-3}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, according to calculations based on the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{Inflation-fn|UK}}}} was sufficient to cover the costs of the trial and appeals.

==Abolition of blasphemous libel as an offence== {{Main|Blasphemy law in the United Kingdom}} On 5 March 2008, an amendment was passed to the [[Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008]] which abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales. The peers also voted for the laws to be abandoned during March. The Act received royal assent on 8&nbsp;May 2008,<ref>[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080004_en_1 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008], see section 79 and Part 5 of Schedule 28.</ref> and the relevant section came into force on 8 July 2008.<ref>[http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/03/uk-house-of-lords-votes-to-abolish.php JURIST – Paper Chase: UK House of Lords votes to abolish criminal blasphemy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509145839/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/03/uk-house-of-lords-votes-to-abolish.php |date=2009-05-09 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080004_en_17#pt12-l1g153 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806163938/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080004_en_17#pt12-l1g153 |date=6 August 2010 }}, section 153: Commencement</ref><ref>{{Cite web |access-date=2008-05-23 |publisher=Ministry of Justice |title=Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 implementation |url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice-act-implementation.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081105105702/http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice-act-implementation.htm |archive-date=2008-11-05 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |access-date=2008-06-06 |publisher=Institute for Humanist Studies |author=Ruth Geller |title=Goodbye to Blasphemy in Britain |url=http://humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=348&article=0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607204857/http://humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=348&article=0 |archive-date=2008-06-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Later appearances of the poem== In 1996, the [[Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement]] was investigated by the police after publishing a [[hyperlink]] to the Queer Resources Directory, an American website, that included a copy of the poem. In April 1997 the police declared that they did not intend to prosecute.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-clear-case-of-poetic-injustice-1251894.html|title=A clear case of poetic injustice|first=Mark|last=Vernon|date=21 July 1997|work=The Independent}}</ref> The investigation was commented on by civil liberties groups as raising issues about whether linking legally constituted publication. However, it did not produce a legal precedent on the question as it did not go to court.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/link-to-explicit-poem-deemed-ok/|title=Link to explicit poem deemed OK|website=CNet|date=21 July 1997}}</ref>

In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public repeat reading of the poem took place on the steps of [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] church in [[Trafalgar Square]], London, without any incidents. Kirkup criticised the politicising of his poem.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1401051/Erotic-poem-challenges-blasphemy-law.html |title=Erotic poem challenges blasphemy law |date=11 July 2002 |work=The Telegraph|url-access=subscription|access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=obit/>

==See also== * [[John William Gott]] * [[List of works depicting Jesus as LGBT]] * ''[[The Romans in Britain]]''

==Notes== {{notes}}

==References== * Cited as Whitehouse v Lemon [1979] 2 WLR 281; or Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd [1979] AC 617, HL * [http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=open&documentId=804147&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 Gay News Ltd. and ''Lemon v United Kingdom''] [Eur Comm HR] 5 EHRR 123 (1982), App. No. 8710/79. {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * [https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/items/show/6190 The poem as printed in ''Gay News''], from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] library * [http://www.galha.org/glh/gaynews.html ''Gay News'' on Trial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040825220017/http://www.galha.org/glh/gaynews.html |date=25 August 2004 }}, ''Gay and Lesbian Humanist''. * Robertson, Geoffrey: ''The Justice Game'' Vintage (1999); {{ISBN|0-09-958191-4}}. * [https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/01/10/the-gay-poem-that-broke-blasphemy-laws/ The gay poem that broke blasphemy laws] (10 January 2008) - summary of the case by [[PinkNews]]

[[Category:Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights]] [[Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom]] [[Category:United Kingdom free speech case law]] [[Category:United Kingdom LGBTQ rights case law]] [[Category:House of Lords cases]] [[Category:Christianity in England]] [[Category:1977 in United Kingdom case law]] [[Category:Blasphemy law]] [[Category:1977 in LGBTQ history]] [[Category:Blasphemy law in Europe]] [[Category:1977 in England]] [[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in literature]] [[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]] [[Category:Religious controversies in literature]]