‘The kg and his hband’: The gay history of Brish royals - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• GAY DATG UNED KGDOM
• BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER
• ‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS
• GAY BRA GLOSSARY

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

This may e as a surprise om a untry where male homosexualy was illegal until as recently as 1967, and where gay marriage ntu to ffle right-wgers, swivel-eyed or otherwise.

We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy. Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable. Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

A few d homosexuals n be found  Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men  The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923).

GAY DATG UNED KGDOM

The ma tr may be straight, but the mera’s love of Pl Robon’s torso – the film was directed and produced by gay men – hts at an even more taboo love story. Although ma at a time when homosexualy was unmentnable on screen, Hale’s gtur and waspish livery clearly the character as not the marryg kd. Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy.

Ma when gay sex was illegal the UK, uld have been a reer-er, but stead saw him progrs om matee idol rol to meatier arthoe fare. Victim was released four years after the publitn of the Wolfenn report, a paper which remend that male homosexualy no longer be regard as a crimal offence.

It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people. The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt  A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor  The L-shaped Room (1962). A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay.

BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER

The last scene, set a gay bar, featur a nga le of unlikable stereotyp, but at least Sutton across more sympathetilly than Ra Thgham, playg Campbell’s shrewish wife. Sebastiane (1976)Few films outsi gay porn feature as much male flh as Sebastiane, the feature but of Derek Jarman (-directed by Pl Hums). Some praised for s realistic portrayal of a gay teacher unsuccsfully seekg a lovg relatnship the newly sexually liberated clubs of London.

Now Nighthawks n be re-evaluated as an valuable time psule of the late 1970s gay scene, the liberated perd between crimalisatn and the outbreak of AIDS. Ken Robertson is very good as the antihero, pecially the film’s bt scene, when the teacher out to his homophobic class and nonts their prejudic. What uld be more crowd-pleasg than a gay love story between a Pakistani immigrant and an ex-Natnal Front member?

‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS

Homosexualy is jt one of the topics vered  Hanif Kureishi’s amb, Osr-nomated screenplay, which also tak on racism, culture clash, and the state of Thatcher’s Bra. The murr of a gay man triggers an avalanche of trouble for two black pirate rad DJs, one of whom starts a relatnship wh a whe, gay punk.

Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms.

GAY BRA GLOSSARY

It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role  The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs. In a rare moment of sany, wrer Bret Easton Ellis tweeted that “ might be the greatt film about gay men ever ma”. 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.