‘There’s no wrong way to be gay’: behd the scen of Love, Victor | Televisn & rad | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• ‘THERE’S NO WRONG WAY TO BE GAY’: BEHD THE SCEN OF LOVE, VICTOR
• IS MY HBAND GAY? SIGNS OF A GAY HBAND
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• GAY PRI
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

But when I heard people ravg about the show, wrten by Rsell T Davi, I was stck by how many of them admted to knowg ltle about the epimic – and the stctn wreaked among the gay muny. That’s bee, even today's much more acceptg society, the history of the gay and lbian muny is largely a fotten history.

For a long time, the mastream public didn't want to hear our Ca's The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle tells the story of a secretly gay postman searchg for a lost love om his youth (Cred: Headle Review)"I would venture to say that the public were disgted and outraged, " says thor Crystal Jeans. It's about a lonely, socially awkward and secretly gay postman livg a fictnal town the north of England who hs retirement, realisg he wants to turn his life around and fally be happy – but to do this, he needs to fd the love of his life, a man he hasn’t seen for nearly 50 years. My novel is ridg on a wave of tert that dat back the UK to 2017 and the 50th anniversary of the begng of crimalisatn of homosexualy.

That same year, the so-lled "Alan Turg law" offered pardons to 49, 000 Brish gay men who’d been nvicted of homosexual acts – followg a mpaign arguably bolstered by the greater awarens brought about by The Imatn Game, the h film that picted the nvictn and chemil stratn of the Enigma-breakg puter scientist. Over on Instagram, The Aids Memorial shar photos and stori of people – predomantly gay men – who died of the disease, wrten by those who loved them. You’d not tch many queer al mers jottg down their memoirs – Crystal JeansHowever, 's fictn that’s very much drivg the phenomenon of brgg "lost" stori of gay life om the past to light.

‘THERE’S NO WRONG WAY TO BE GAY’: BEHD THE SCEN OF LOVE, VICTOR

Over the last five years, a tr of Irish wrers have livered stunng gay-themed novels set predomantly perds of history that didn't wele them – John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furi), Graham Norton (Home Stretch), and Sebastian Barry (the Costa Award-wng Days Whout End). In the theatre, Matthew Lopez's exploratn of gay male history The Inherance triumphed London before transferrg to New York, where opened the year after a well-received revival of Mart Crowley's semal 1968 play Boys the Band.

Most recently, the ter explod wh behd-the-scen photos of Harry Styl om the shoot of new film My Policeman, an adaptatn of Bethan Roberts's 2012 novel starrg the pop superstar as a closeted gay man the 1950s.

IS MY HBAND GAY? SIGNS OF A GAY HBAND

However, as a way of explag the mystery surroundg why Harry left behd everythg he knew, Gale imaged a suatn which he was forced to leave as a rult of a gay affair beg exposed. Crystal Jeans's latt novel is The Inverts, which tells the story of two bt iends – one a lbian, the other a gay man – who enter to a fake marriage the 1920s. This was another reason I wrote The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle; I wanted to tell the story of one ordary young gay man tryg to exprs his love for another at a time when this would not have been accepted.

But I also wanted to ntrast this disturbg, sometim horrifyg picture wh what life n be like for a gay man wh today’s much more acceptg society the UK – and celebrate how much progrs we’ve ma. My spiratn was a seri of terviews I nducted wh olr gay men whilst I was Edor--Chief of Attu magaze, as part of our celebratn of the 50th anniversary of the start of crimalisatn.

Pop star Harry Styl is starrg new film My Policeman as a closeted gay officer the 1950s (Cred: Getty Imag)"What we see all through history is that people are nied their past as part of a way to ntrol them, " says Hornby. The show – a sp-off of Love, Simon, a quietly groundbreakg film about a closeted gay teenager, based on a btsellg young adult novel by Becky Albertalli – was origally meant to be a part of the Disney+ slate of origal programmg.

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

“Most of my characters, when I get to play the mom of a gay son, have been their champns – that’s a much more faiar road for me, ” she says. “In realy, there is no right way to be mascule, there is no right or wrong way to be gay and there is no right or wrong way to be a human beg.

”Then there is Benji, Victor’s oh-so-adorable and, most importantly, out gay csh, played by the Brish actor Gee Sear.

GAY PRI

”The fact that the show had a predomantly straight st was one of the cricisms levied at Love, Simon, as was the versn of gay life – sexls and fairly heteronormative – that the film portrayed. Yet, spe stg straight actors s lead gay rol, Love, Victor do attempt to right some wrongs, pecially later the seri.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

“I thk one of the thgs that young LGBTQ+ people al wh is that they’re aaid of beg perceived as gay, so they reject thgs that feel overtly gay. It’s a different sensibily and I thk ’s really important for gay dienc, pecially young gay dienc, to see themselv as the centre of the story. Sometim a woman may have been a heterosexual relatnship for years and yet feel somethg is somehow "off;" and she may fd herself askg, "Is my hband gay?