Jeremy Thorpe and his downfall: The 1970s gay sex sndal that volved attempted murr, a ad dog and the Liberal Party lear | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• THE TE STORY OF ‘A VERY ENGLISH SNDAL’ AND THE TRIALS OF A CLOSETED GAY POLICIAN
• DID JEREMY THORPE HAVE A GAY LOVER THROWN TO HIS ATH OM A YACHT?
• JEREMY THORPE AND HIS DOWNFALL: THE 1970S GAY SEX SNDAL THAT VOLVED ATTEMPTED MURR, A AD DOG AND THE LIBERAL PARTY LEAR
• JEREMY THORPE’S GAY EX-LOVER NORMAN STT FACE-TO-FACE WH WOULD-BE ASSASS FOR FIRST TIME
• FURY OF JEREMY THORPE'S GAY LOVER AS TV DRAMA TURNS HIS ORAL TO 'A EDY'

THE TE STORY OF ‘A VERY ENGLISH SNDAL’ AND THE TRIALS OF A CLOSETED GAY POLICIAN

To be gay Bra durg that era meant puttg onelf nstant danger of arrt. “It was a very opprsive climate right up to and cludg the Margaret Thatcher years, ” says polil scientist David Raysi, the thor of On the Frge: Gays and Lbians Polics. “In the 1970s and 80s, the overwhelmg majory Bra thought homosexual activy was morally wrong.

DID JEREMY THORPE HAVE A GAY LOVER THROWN TO HIS ATH OM A YACHT?

Like many untri, Bra had a long history of anti-gay discrimatn.

JEREMY THORPE AND HIS DOWNFALL: THE 1970S GAY SEX SNDAL THAT VOLVED ATTEMPTED MURR, A AD DOG AND THE LIBERAL PARTY LEAR

Even then, was followed by dranian measur to prevent gay relatnships, cludg the Crimal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which ma “gross cency” between men—a purposely vague term—a crimal act. The panic over homosexualy ntued after World War II, wr historian Michael Bloch Closet Queens: Some 20th Century Brish Policians: “A fiercely homophobic Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, aid by an equally puranil Director of Public Prosecutns, Sir Theobold Matthew, was termed to ‘rid England of this plague.

That report remend public statut should avoid legislatg moraly, and that the ernment should remove nsensual homosexual liaisons om crimal law. The 1967 Sexual Offens Act crimalized homosexual acts between nsentg adults private, though didn’t remove the stigma attendant on such acts.

JEREMY THORPE’S GAY EX-LOVER NORMAN STT FACE-TO-FACE WH WOULD-BE ASSASS FOR FIRST TIME

In some ways, gay dividuals were jt as vulnerable as before.

“The police were still entirely willg to heavily police those venu where was thought that homosexual activy occurred.

That’s not to say all policians fought actively agast gay rights. But the two domant parti of the era, the Labour and Conservative parti, were nowhere near as terted aligng themselv wh the gay rights movement. “Labour as a whole was very unfortable associatg self wh what ntued to terpret as a bourgeois and dangero issue, ” wr historian Lucy Robson Gay Men and the Left Post-War Bra.

FURY OF JEREMY THORPE'S GAY LOVER AS TV DRAMA TURNS HIS ORAL TO 'A EDY'

Those class tensns were a major ponent of the homosexualy issue Bra. ” In one episo, Lord Grantham exc the homosexual behavr of his footman, Thomas, sayg such cints happened regular when Lord Grantham attend Eton, a private school. Regardls of how historilly accurate the earl’s reactn to his servant’s behavr was, is te that gay experimentatn flourished upper-class, sex-segregated is like boardg school, the ary, and the clergy.