Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), philosopher and reformer, and the intellectual inspiration for the founding of the University of London (now UCL), is known for his opposition to the punishment of homosexuality.

He argued that there could be no grounds for condemning, and still less for applying legal sanctions to, an action that did not cause any mischief.

Less well-known is Bentham’s advocacy of sexual liberty. In writings only recently edited for the first time, Bentham identifies the Mosaic law and the teachings of St Paul as the source of repressive Christian attitudes towards homosexuality and other ‘irregular’ sexual practices.

As part of a wider discussion of religious belief, and its influence on sexual morality, Bentham looked in detail at the way in which the sexuality of Jesus was portrayed in the Gospels, and how Jesus’s attitude to pleasure in general was in stark opposition to the asceticism preached by Paul.

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