Derrick Sherwin Bailey (30 June 1910 – 9 February 1984) was an English Christian theologian, born at Alcester in Warwickshire, 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.
[5][6] Recognised as the church's leading expert on sexual ethics,[7] While working on the pamphlet, Bailey independently completed Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition.
[9] It was criticized for exonerating the Church for persecuting homosexuals, yet it is still considered a landmark work on this topic.
He scrutinized both the Bible and subsequent thought, drawing focus to some heretofore ignored issues, such as intertestamental literature, legislation of Christian emperors, the penitentials, and the link between heresy and sodomy.
Higgins lists Bailey as believing that homosexuality will eventually disappear "because he thought that modern people would create better marriages, which in turn would make better homes, producing children who would naturally follow the right sexual path".