The grim tth of beg gay prison | Sadhbh Walshe | The Guardian

Contents:

• US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• WHE TWK WANTED THE BBC DADDY GAY PORN | GAYBOYSTUBE
• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT

Image source, Shay RowanImage ptn, The play b the origal script wh the fictnal tale of a young man 1950s BraIn 1957, the BBC broadst s first rad documentary about gay men. The Homosexual Condn had taken three years to e to air, amid a climate of nsirable opprsn which you uld still be imprisoned for beg documentary was later lost but, followg the efforts of a Leictershire amic and an award-wng wrer, a play named The BBC's First Homosexual has been created about which is havg s first performance on Thursday.

RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN

Intrigued, he read on to disver the lost script of one of the BBC's first attempts to exame the liv of gay men - a documentary named The Homosexual Condn, which had been broadst on the Home source, Picture suppliedImage ptn, Jordan Tweddle plays one of the lead rol the new productnIt had been rerd on 24 May 1954 but was nsired so taboo that had not been broadst until 25 July 1957. "As he examed the papers, Marc found the origal script for the documentary, as well as memos om those behd and letters tailg the reactn om listeners - cludg one om a gay man who had scribed as a the time the BBC ma the documentary, people were beg sent to prison for beg gay.

"The qutn arose about whether you uld actually have any homosexual people on the programme, given that was a crimal offence, " says programme makers eventually opted to terview somebody who had been sentenced for gross cency but who appeared to nsir himself "reformed" source, Shay RowanImage ptn, Those behd the play say helps terrogate the attus of 1950s BraMarc adms such termology would s uneasily wh a morn dience. "It's a suatn where you have a whole bunch of straight men who don't now much about homosexualy pronouncg on the subject wh a great al of certu, " he says. "All of the assumptns wh the BBC about the broadst tell you more about the person wrg the memo than about what was like to be gay the 1950s.

WHE TWK WANTED THE BBC DADDY GAY PORN | GAYBOYSTUBE

"The programme was mothballed for several years before eventually beg broadst at around the time of the Wolfenn Report which remend a partial crimalisatn of source, Shay RowanImage ptn, Marc felt the script was ripe for dramatisatnFollowg s broadst and the subsequent reactn, the director general at the time - Sir Ian Jab - mted to rea om broadstg any further ntent relatg to homosexualy, apart om for "special purpos", spe s flaws, posive thgs did emerge as a rult of the broadst. Hewt went on to help found the Homosexual Law Reform Society, which mpaigned for chang to the laws that crimalised homosexualy.

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

"Beg gay 1950s EnglandImage source, otherImage ptn, The arrt of Alan Turg and other celebrated figur highlighted the jtice of the lawsThe years followg World War Two saw a rise the arrts and prosecutns of gay - such as wartime breaker Alan Turg and knighted actor Sir John Gielgud - were high-profile figur. Such s - and Turg's ath 1954 - led some to ll for a review of the 1957 The Wolfenn Commtee published s report to the laws on homosexualy and prostutn. "The experts don't actually posss much expertise and the view of homosexualy is an otherg one.

"There's only one man the whole programme who talks openly about same sex experienc and he's parad as a 'cured homosexual'. "So, I wanted an actual homosexual to be the centre of the play.

"He's a void though as the culture around him tells him almost nothg about homosexualy, except for reports of a few high-profile men beg arrted.