A Gui To Gay London for LGBTQ Travelers

Contents:

• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
• MY TRODUCTN TO GAY LONDON
• CEMA LISTGS FOR GAY FILMS LONDON AND THE UK
• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• TOP 10 GAY FILMS ON THE BFI PLAYER
• IT'S A S IS AN EMOTNAL TALE OF GAY '80S LONDON: REVIEW
• GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
• PRI: A HEARTBREAKG BRISH COMEDY ABOUT THE TIME GAYS AND MERS WORKED TOGETHER

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

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.

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). 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.

MY TRODUCTN TO GAY LONDON

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.

CEMA LISTGS FOR GAY FILMS LONDON AND THE UK

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). 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. Dirk Bogar’s landmark role the 1961 crime thriller Victim is the touchstone, a film that actually helped change public opn and the law, when the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act partially crimalised male homosexualy.

In the wake of this first step towards equaly, we were treated to unpleasant stereotyp galore  The Killg of Sister Gee (1968) and Stairse (1969), but the 1970s saw progrs wh the sophistited bisexual love triangle of John Schlger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Derek Jarman’s homoerotic Sebastiane (1976) and Ron Peck and Pl Hallam’s Nighthawks (1978), the first explicly gay Brish feature set the gay muny. Dream A40 (1965)Wh mastream cema still reluctant to tackle gay characters and plots the mid-60s, Jamain actor-director Lloyd Reckord took matters to his own hands wh this extraordary unrground short that terrogat the psychologil impact of persecutn.

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

Four were among the first natns to legalise gay marriage (Fland took a ltle longer, fally jog the club 2017), and Iceland beme the first untry to have an openly gay head of ernment (Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, 2009). Daddy and the Mcle Amy (1991)The erotic gay drawgs of Too Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Fland, are one of the Sndavian pensula’s most famo queer exports, and this documentary, the only film to feature the man himself, is a handy entry to his work and reer. Dirk Bogar’s extremely brave performance as a closeted barrister drawn to a gay blackmail se directly fluenced public opn, and played a part changg the law Bra when the Sexual Offenc Act was fally passed  1967.

Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema. And we regnize that some of the films the list will re-igne healthy bat that have been fixtur of discsn around LGBTQ+ films — straight actors playg gay characters, cis actors playg trans characters, and the historil domance of whe male perspectiv.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

For our most recent update to the list, we’ve add mastream edi Fire Island and Bros, thriller Knock at the Cab (featurg two pairs of hbands whose vatn is terpted by the potential apolypse), Disney feature Strange World (wh the stud’s first openly gay lead character), Blue Jean (a Brish drama set durg the Thatcher premiership), the extremely well-reviewed Girl Picture), France’s magil realist The Five Devils, and Cann 2023 buts Monster and Strange Way of Life. While the film certaly touch on the stggl of beg gay and closeted—the tular Simon (Nick Robson) isn’t yet out to his iends or fay— is fundamentally a sweet, earnt high school rom where the guy gets the guy. The film clus a number of ntroversial scen that uld be triggerg — so, watch at your own Now Advertisement - Contue Readg Below8 'The Bter Tears of Petra Von Kant' (1972) Courty Everett CollectnThe Bter Tears of Petra Von Kant is a sapphic classic that has bee a key entry the largely gay male-domated non of high mp.

In I Killed My Mother, Dolan documents the ght relatnship between a gay teenager and his sgle mother dreamy, heart-wrenchg NowAdvertisement - Contue Readg Below13 'Cisg' (1980) ©Uned Artists/Courty Everett CollectnA crime thriller set agast the backdrop of the 1970s leather scene, Cisg is a polarizg film wh a plited legacy.

) In recent years, though, the film—which featur Al Paco as a New York p who go unrver the cy’s S&M scene to vtigate a serial killer targetg gay men—has been reevaluated and is now nsired by many as a classic. Set the world of the New York ballroom scene, Port Authory—which was executive produced by Mart Srse—tells of the love story between a whe man who has jt arrived New York whout a penny to his name (Fnn Whehead) and a Black transgenr woman wh ep ti to the cy’s ball culture (Leyna Bloom, the first Black trans actrs to star a film at Cann) Now Advertisement - Contue Readg Below15 'Young Soul Rebels' (1991) Courty EverettDcribed as a “part-thriller, part-gay love story, ” Young Soul Rebels—a film not often clud U. The first Hollywood movie to center on Che-Amerins sce The Joy Luck Club some 11 years before , Savg Face tells the story of a closeted Che-Amerin woman fallg love for the first time and stgglg to rencile the relatnship wh her and her girliend’s tradnal (read: homophobic), close-kn New York Cy muny.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

A perfect addn to any Baby Gay™’s g-of-age non, The Half Of It tells the tenr story of Elie, a bookish high schooler who fds herself an unlikely love triangle when a jock recs her help urtg Aster, her own csh. A gay man (Jse Plemons) returns home to his nservative fay to be wh his ncer-stricken mom (Molly Shannon) this sweetly ic semi-tobgraphil film wrten and directed by Chris Now20 The Death and Life of Marsha P. When the Brish parliament passed the Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 – which stated that: “a homosexual act private shall not be an offence provid that the parti nsent thereto and have attaed the age of 21 years” – sought to legimate gay inty Bra, at least partially.

However, lbians do feature throughout the urse of this 50-year history and should be clud wh the bat around creased visibily – even if, when pared wh films about gay male experience, they are unrreprented. As Andy Medhurst explas his entertag and thoughtful search for “nebulo nanci” Brish films ma between the 1940s and 1960s, the aim of the queer spectator was to pick up on visual and verbal clu which would give away a character’s or actor’s “gayns”. Extra-textual elements about Bogar’s own private life as a gay man lend the film and his performance addnal meang and an thenticy which flects his performanc later films such as Joseph Losey’s The Servant (1963) and Darlg (1965).

Canadian-Amerin soclogist Ervg Goffman, wrg 1968 (a year after the Sexual Offenc Act was passed England and Wal), clus homosexualy as a social stigma – that is, a marker which disqualifi an dividual om full social acceptance. For the gay man, the uld range om (self-evint) sexual relatns wh someone of the same sex to ls obv symbols which have veloped society and culture over time – for example drag queens, effemate behavur and particular ways of drsg or actg. Stairse (Stanley Donen, 1969), featurg Richard Burton and Rex Harrison as a uple of “flamg queen” hairdrsers, drew the cril ire of Roger Ebert (and, one imag, some of the gay muny) for their portrayal of Harry and Charlie as a parodic “sishow attractn”.

TOP 10 GAY FILMS ON THE BFI PLAYER

Whether one is Lookg for Langston (1989) – the tle of Julien’s 1989 film about gay black Amerin poet Langston Hugh – or Cght Lookg (1991) – Constante Giannaris’ 1991 film about risque fantasi – the sire to see and be seen has been ccial the advancement of gay rights.

Meanwhile, Terence Davi would tackle elements of his own homosexual awakeng wh a reprsive Catholic upbrgg and a dysfunctnal fay un his films The Terence Davi Trilogy (1983), Distant Voic, Still Liv (1988) and The Long Day Clos (1992). Dyer propos that the signifince of the “look” of the films, and perhaps why so much vigoratg queer film-makg was beg done penntly and shown unrground venu (as well as for mercial reasons), was a reflectn of the “surface” homosexuals had to manage orr to pass for heterosexual. Caravagg (1986), Edward II (1991) and Wtgenste (1993) n be terpreted as a “queerg” of history, to emphasise the sexualy of their rpective central figur orr to rve a space for gay visibily wh the largely heterosexual (not to mentn, whe and male) amy.

Playwright Joe Orton (very much the theatril scendant of Wil’s risqué high society satire) is memorably portrayed by Gary Oldman Prick Up Your Ears (1987), Ian McKellen plays Frankenste director Jam Whale Gods and Monsters (1998) and, The Imatn Game (2014), Benedict Cumberbatch’s Alan Turg rac to crack the enigma durg World War II as he wrtl wh his homosexualy.

IT'S A S IS AN EMOTNAL TALE OF GAY '80S LONDON: REVIEW

In films such as The Bt Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and Philomena (2013), queers occupy sub-plots, but Pri (2014) puts s subject matter (equal rights for lbians, gay men and Welsh mers 1984’s strik) ont and centre. Disney’s live-actn remake of Bety and the Beast (2016) featured a (very) brief scene of a supportg male character dancg wh another man, and the crew of horror sequel Alien: Covenant (2017) clud a gay uple – and, later, Michael Fassbenr’s cyb lockg lips wh “himself”).

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a woman.He said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough".He said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'".When Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3,000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance blossomed.Three years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos".He relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife."Danny Beard on Same Sex Love and MarriageDanny explor same-sex weddgs, fdg out why upl chose to get married, the challeng unrpng this cisn and what mak the wedd relatnships work.The uple said they now wanted to help people who were not as ee and strive for "equaly for everyone"."Now I'm here a safe place I want to fight for others to be able to marry who they want," Adam said."I'm so lucky but I want everyone else Sdi to marry the one they love whout facg discrimatn and persecutn." Image source, Fay photographImage ptn, Peter McGrah and David Cabreza say they are "very proud" to have been the first same-sex uple married EnglandMore than 40,000 same-sex marriag took place between 2014 and 2020, acrdg to the Office for Natnal StatisticsPeter McGrah and David Cabreza, origally om Stland and the US, ma history when they beme the first same-sex uple to marry England on 29 March 2014.The trailblazers married jt after midnight at Islgton Town Hall.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage"."It was so sweet seeg him so happy," Mr Cabreza said. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

Its A S Cred: Ben Blackall/HBO Max Davi is known on the shor for two transformative seri: 1999's Queer as Folk was a pneerg gay drama that broke through var explic-ntent boundari and spired an Amerin remake, and his 2005-2010 n on Doctor Who more or ls vented our entire morn mo of genre revival. In recent years sce the emergence of Soho as London’s ‘Gay Village’ the basement was nverted to the Rabow Gay Cema, the two origal screens ntued to operate as the Sunset Cemas screeng ‘straight’ adult films. Highlights clu the John Waters-spired lbian theme night Female Trouble; the d-visual queer spectacular Outré Voyage, the male-centric mic nights Homodrop and Dissodoma, the by-femm/for-femm monthly Femmi-Errect, and the hedonistic Happy Endgs, which turns Superstore’s unisex loos to a pop-up rave.

PRI: A HEARTBREAKG BRISH COMEDY ABOUT THE TIME GAYS AND MERS WORKED TOGETHER

The artist David Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS 1992, ed his queerns as a radil pose, a way of sayg, as Chris McKim’s documentary “Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F***er” not, “I’m not gay as I love you, I’m queer as fuck off. Advertisement - Contue Readg Below13 I Am Michael (2015)I Am Michael uniquely ments on the plex and murky area of when homosexualy and the church tersect, as tells the credible te-life story of Michael Glatze (Jam Fran), the high-profile Amerin gay activist who beme a straight anti-gay Christian pastor. After years spent pursug polil activism wh his boyiend (Zachary Quto) and enuragg other LGBT youths to embrace their sexual inty, he is plagued by doubt and paranoia as he redisvers his fah, rejectg his gay liftyle pursu of his ‘te self’.

15 Pri (2014)Wh a stellar ensemble st, cludg Domic Wt, Imelda Stnton, Andrew Stt and Bill Nighy, Pri tells the spiratnal te story of a group of lbian and gay activists 1984 who want to support the mg strike. Goln Globe nomated and BAFTA wng, the film follows the LGBT activists as they travel to a small Welsh mg town, phg for the two margalised muni to e together support of each other, ultimately formg the highly succsful Lbians and Gays Support the Mers mpaign, which was stmental progrsg the fight for LGBTQ+ rights the UK. As we follow the two men throughout their liv, the shame around beg openly gay Ameri at that time is so poignantly and heart-wrenchgly clear, ’s no wonr the st and crew won a verable army of Goln Glob, BAFTAs and Amy Awards, among many other aclas.

Explorg ias of masculy, reprsn, inty and the black body, this epic g-of-age film don’t shy away om some of the most plex, msy and trite aspects of what means to grow up as a gay, black man Ameri – all whout puttg a foot wrong.

While San Francis had a thrivg LGBT muny the seventi, the rt of the state of California (and the US) had not yet que ught up wh s progrsive ways – homophobia was rife at this time and Harvey had to fight hard to break down walls and get the LGBTQ+ muny the rights they served.

14 queer g-of-age movi and shows to watch after HeartstopperFrom Get Real to The Way He Looks, here's our brief gui to the most affectg queer g-of-agersHeartstopper, Netflix's g-of-age seri about a gay schoolboy fallg love wh one of the BNOC gby lads, has ronated far and wi for s cuty visn of young queer romance. Betiful Thg (1996)©Sony Pictur/Courty Everett CollectnOne of the first noteworthy exampl of the gay g-of-ager the UK, Betiful Thg is a shg example of Channel 4's radil programmg through the ‘80s and ’90s, puttg a spotlight on the margalised where others refed or were rtraed the name of impartialy.

Livg Oh, the only lol gay-iendly spot is a dis lled “The Universal, ” spng Hi-NRG hs like “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat and Miquel Brown’s “So Many Men, So Ltle Time” (serly, if you like synth-pop, this is the film for you). Stream on (2019)Take Claire Denis' gay war drama Be Travail, add a dollop of Apolypse Now and you get Moffie, the ravishg third feature om South Ain tr Oliver Herman (now on the road wh the Bill Nighy-starrg Livg). Pri, the wonrful new movie about a group of London-based lbian and gay activists who raised money for Welsh mers durg a major 1984-85 strike, is a love letter to solidary, a powerful force that we still talk about si the LGBTQ muny but rarely act upon.

When Mark Ashton (played wh oodl of sexy charisma by Amerin Ben Schzer) notic that the police are spendg ls time harassg gays, part bee they’re by on the mers’ picket l, he spends the 1984 London gay pri march solicg donatns for the strikers and their fai.