Ltle Bra spir the only gays the Polish village | Culture | The Guardian

Contents:

• LTLE BRA’S MATT LUS SAYS ‘ONLY GAY THE VILLAGE’ WAS MEANT TO BE A ‘CELEBRATN’ OF GAY PEOPLE
• JOHNSON HAS LGBT 'BLD SPOT', SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY BET MISTER
• THE TE STORY OF ‘A VERY ENGLISH SNDAL’ AND THE TRIALS OF A CLOSETED GAY POLICIAN
• HOW A LTLE-KNOWN WELSH POLICIAN HELPED GAY RIGHTS BRA
• THE QUIET REVOLUTN: WHY BRA HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE
• GAY POLICIAN SENATOR WHE
• LTLE BRA SPIR THE ONLY GAYS THE POLISH VILLAGE

LTLE BRA’S MATT LUS SAYS ‘ONLY GAY THE VILLAGE’ WAS MEANT TO BE A ‘CELEBRATN’ OF GAY PEOPLE

Gay Spock. Gay Partygoer. Matt says the character was meant to be a ‘celebratn’ of gay people (Picture: Rex Featur, BBC)Comedian and actor Matt Lus has spoken out about his ntroversial Ltle Bra character Dafydd Thomas, better known as ‘the only gay the village’.

Matt said he knows the character has been ed as a tool to bully young gay people, but sists that was not the show’s tentn. ‘I have had people who had ‘you are the only gay the village’ said to them and to was meant to be a celebratn, ’ he told Richard Herrg’s RHLSTP podst. ‘But people were labelled ‘the only gay the village’ at school.

It was meant as entertament, not to make young gay people sad. Sce the show end 2005, the sketch has gaed a lot of cricism for s ls than plimentary portrayal of gay men. The character is emed offensive by many (Picture: BBC)‘I remember thkg there was a greeds to Ltle Bra and we jt wanted to show off as many characters as possible so we played black, whe, straight, gay, male, female, tall, short, whatever, ’ the 45-year-old told the podst.

JOHNSON HAS LGBT 'BLD SPOT', SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY BET MISTER

Ltle BraCast & crewEpiso aired Dec 24, 2005TV-PG30mDafydd has to ci whether to rema the only gay the village, or leave to jo the other gays London. Read allDafydd has to ci whether to rema the only gay the village, or leave to jo the other gays London. Media ptn, Lord Chris Smh talks about the language he wnsed parliament the 1990sBoris Johnson has a "bld spot" when to appotg LGBT+ people to his top team, the UK's first openly gay bet mister has Chris Smh, who was a member of Tony Blair's first bet 1997, said was a "matter of great regret" that there were currently no out bet urged the PM to diversify his top team "the next year or two".

A ernment spokman said Mr Johnson was mted to improvg UK parliament now has s hight ever proportn of lbian, gay and bisexual MPs, cludg two non-bet misters, although there are no openly transgenr members of parliament. Lord Smh, who was also the first openly gay male MP after g out 1984, said electg a trans member of parliament was a "glass ceilg" yet to be broken. "In terms of lbians and gay men I thk the glass ceilg Parliament has well and tly been broken, " he said an terview to mark LGBT+ History month.

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

" Chris Smh's reerImage source, PA MediaImage ptn, Smh promot Brish film at Cann 1999A leadg figure New Labour, who beme an MP for a North London nstuency 1983The followg year, at a gay rights rally Rugby, Warwickshire, he said: "My name is Chris Smh. I'm the Labour MP for Islgton South and Fsbury, and I'm gay"Smh's unscripted announcement - which earned a standg ovatn - was the first time a gay MP had chosen to e outLabour's Mreen Colquhoun - a pneerg femist whose ath at the age of 92 was announced earlier this month - had been open about her sexualy the 1970s, after the Daily Mail revealed she was a relatnship wh another womanIn 1997, Smh was appoted culture secretary, wh rponsibily for the Millennium Dome, the creative dtri and troducg ee mm entryHe later served as head of the Environment Agency, after steppg down as an MP 2005 and enterg the Hoe of LordsJte Greeng who was the first and, as thgs stand, only out lbian bet mister thks 's more of a "pipele" issue - that not as many LGBT+ MPs have risen through the ranks as had been Greeng served Thera May's Conservative bet, as tn secretary and equali mister, alongsi Secretary of State for Stland, David Munll, who also me out while office.

HOW A LTLE-KNOWN WELSH POLICIAN HELPED GAY RIGHTS BRA

He urged Mr Johnson to "look to the greater talent that is out there and will clu some people who happen to be lbian or gay". To be gay Bra durg that era meant puttg onelf nstant danger of arrt.

THE QUIET REVOLUTN: WHY BRA HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE

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

GAY POLICIAN SENATOR WHE

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.

LTLE BRA SPIR THE ONLY GAYS THE POLISH VILLAGE

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. Those class tensns were a major ponent of the homosexualy issue Bra.