Marc Almond the inic gay sger-songwrer and mician synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell an terview wh The Stland Herald talks about his reer…
Contents:
- OUT GAY MARC ALMOND SHAR BIGGT PARTNER REMORSE, BOYIEND HE LOST
- SOFT CELL’S MARC ALMOND: ‘I HATE THE LGBT THG. THERE’S NO GAY MUNY ANYMORE’
OUT GAY MARC ALMOND SHAR BIGGT PARTNER REMORSE, BOYIEND HE LOST
You know, I grew up the 70s, and short of soundg like my age is credibly difficult to grasp how homophobic Bra was the 70s and even more so the 80s. The portrayal of gays on TV were clichéd stereotyp that I uld not relate to as a young man growg up.
And the news was full of sndals, gay shamg or public outgs that stroyed was difficult to fd a role mol agast this toxic backdrop, so I hontly n’t rell on stage last yearJim Dyson via Getty ImagWhat was the first LGBTQ+ TV show or film that you remember ronatg wh you?
I had never seen a film before that prented gay life – or “homosexuals” as everyone was known as then – a sympathetic way. Jt never seen that, and that self mt be credible for people to me, the TV film The Naked Civil Servant was a revelatn, a ground-breakg portrayal of Quent Crisp, the Brish-born wrer, rantr and actor and his acunt of his openly homosexual life London when he dared to be himself.
SOFT CELL’S MARC ALMOND: ‘I HATE THE LGBT THG. THERE’S NO GAY MUNY ANYMORE’
It brought a fiant view of a gay life to people’s livg room, fully unapologetic lour. But the story belonged also to John Hurt, who as an actor dared to portray Quent Crisp at a time when actors didn’t touch gay rol for fear of beg tarnished by them. Many gay people are aaid to speak up for fear of attack by other people wh their own muny and this divisivens upsets me I have always loved Dirk Bogar, and though he wasn’t openly gay, he was so gay and he tried to tell and make a change by placg signifyers his work.
He alt wh gay them openly and faced nsirable hostily. Tellg stori, human stori, gay stori, retellg them the mastream and that is an credible featBilly Porter talks eloquently about how we are at the foreont of tellg our own narrative.
I suppose the early trans rights activist Marsha P Johnson was right: “If a transvte don’t say, ‘I’m gay and I’m proud and I’m a transvte, then nobody else is gog to hop up there and say I’m gay and I’m proud and I’m a transvte for them’. I know olr gay people who are still not out, unable to embrace this changg world, unfaiar wh this new openns, their closets sealed shut by s of shame or abe.