After s of mp stereotyp on film and TV, gay culture is not only mastream, says Philip Hensher, but is boomg. He salut Doctor Who, The Wire and Glee, but wonrs why has taken so long for homosexualy to bee unexceptnal
Contents:
- MR HUMPHRI, A GAY IN WHO WAS HATED BY GAY LIBERATN
- MOVE OVER, MR HUMPHRI: THE CHANGG FACE OF GAY CULTURE
MR HUMPHRI, A GAY IN WHO WAS HATED BY GAY LIBERATN
* mr humphries gay *
Vio: John Inman, who died yterday a London hospal at the age of 71 after a long battle agast liver disease, was probably rponsible for raisg the profile of the homosexual male to s hight level sce the heyday of Osr, ironilly, theTV role for which he will always be remembered furiated the activists of Gay Liberatn.
' - as the sort of meang sexual stereotype they were fightg to years after the seri end, members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equaly monstrated outsi theatr where Inman happened to be the star of Are You Beg Served?
MOVE OVER, MR HUMPHRI: THE CHANGG FACE OF GAY CULTURE
John Inman, who died last week, will always be known for his tchphrase 'I'm ee'. The 'gay' word was never ed by Inman or anyone else. It was all a b, er, mp * mr humphries gay *
' - as the sort of meang sexual stereotype they were fightg to years after the seri end, members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equaly monstrated outsi theatr where Inman happened to be appearg. (Print Obama clared Omar to be his favoure character the seri, and was a popular choice) s, no televisn drama, not many ensemble films, and few novels wh pretensns to be socially extensive n do whout a gay character or two, and if some of the are pafully stereotypil, others are hont and nvcg. A young person growg up gay n fd a meangful reflectn of how he feels at the multiplex and long-nng popular or fay TV seri whout too much difficulty.
Dick Emery's character Clarence, Litenant Gber 'Allo 'Allo!, and the mp personas of Larry Grayson or Charl Hawtrey are all directed at one particular dience: the dience which had never knowgly associated wh a gay person. The number of people the morn world who don't know a gay person mt be vanishgly 1970, was an exceedgly brave act to "e out", to announce to iends, fay and acquatanc that one was homosexual or lbian.
I would say that, Bra, the gay or lbian person who liv a life of ncealment and ceptn is much ls mon than the past, and fewer and fewer people unr 50 even unrstand the reasons for livg like this. Stereotyp uld be staed the 1970s bee most people watchg a s or a drama were not at all likely to know what a gay person was like. That go for both straight and gay viewers: many people who knew themselv to be gay also felt themselv solary their ndn, or a member of a small and beleaguered muny.