Rsell T Davi ss down wh Nick Leve to discs his new seri rooted the 80s Aids crisis, LGBTQ reprentatn on screen and straight actors playg gay characters
Contents:
- IT’S A S IS A LOVE LETTER TO 1980S GAY CULTURE – AND HATE MAIL TO THE ERA’S HOMOPHOBIC HEGEMONY
- IT’S A S CREATOR RSELL T DAVI: “CAST GAY AS GAY”
IT’S A S IS A LOVE LETTER TO 1980S GAY CULTURE – AND HATE MAIL TO THE ERA’S HOMOPHOBIC HEGEMONY
The acclaimed HBO Max seri, featurg a largely LGBTQ st, tells the story of a group of gay men and their iends London the early 1980s at the begng of the HIV/AIDS crisis, shg a light on a dark chapter that's been fadg om memory. * it's a sin gay scene *
Do you serly thk there is an illns that only kills gay men? It n lculate that you're gay and kill you, but only if you're gay and no one else? How n tell you're gay?
Takg part the nversatn are Lisa Power, a -founr of LGBT chary Stonewall who also volunteered for Swchboard durg the Aids crisis; the Rev Richard Col, the vir of Fedon Northamptonshire and former member of the pop group the Communards; Marc Thompson, an HIV activist, the director of the Love Tank CIC and the -founr of PrEPster; Guardian lumnist and thor Owen Jon; Omari Douglas, who plays the character Rose It’s a S; and Jason Okundaye, a wrer and the -founr of Black & Gay, back the day, a digal archive honourg and rememberg black queer life those of you who lived through the perd, what memori did watchg the show brg back? Richard Col: My first engagement wh Aids was through the gay prs – there were mours of this “gay ncer” that was happeng Ameri. Then the first person close to me who died was the activist Mark Ashton, who was a very signifint person on the gay scene.
I remember movg through the phas: what is this thg that is killg gay men? Seeg all the ath and the neglect, the rpons om fai … What Rsell T Davi also ptured was the accuracy of the gay muny at the time, the early 80s: the ropey pubs wh dirty dancefloors, snoggg for those of you who didn’t, did the show add to your knowledge or unrstandg of that era?
IT’S A S CREATOR RSELL T DAVI: “CAST GAY AS GAY”
Rsell T. Davi's "betifully gay" seri creat an evotive, personal time psule of an 1980s London bet by the Aids crisis. * it's a sin gay scene *
I’m 24, and lookg at that perd I had always thought of as a dragged-feet rponse om homophobic ernments. Somethg that is said the show [by Olly Alexanr’s character, Rchie] that really moved me was about beg the perfect vis to nfirm people’s homophobia. I was born 1984, so wrapped up the homophobia of the playground at the time was the stigma of HIV/Aids.
* it's a sin gay scene *
Beg gay was nflated wh the evabily of gettg HIV and dyg of Aids.