Rev Richard Col: 'I'm the go-to gay' | Pop and rock | The Guardian

Contents:

• GOD KNOWS I'M GAY
• TABLOIDS THREATENED TO EXPOSE GAY SGERS AS HIV-POSIVE WHOUT A SHRED OF EVINCE
• REV RICHARD COL: FROM THE COMMUNARDS TO "GAY VIR" NTROVERSY
• REV RICHARD COL: 'I'M THE GO-TO GAY'
• I AM A GAY VIR AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IS AN EMBARRASSG MS

GOD KNOWS I'M GAY

Fi Glover troduc the Omnib edn wh nversatns om London, Suffolk and Leeds between a gay vir and his partner, footballers, and a father and son who work together. Fi Glover troduc the Omnib edn wh nversatns om London, Suffolk and Leeds between a gay vir and his partner, footballers, and a father and son who work together, provg aga that 's surprisg what you hear when you listen. BBC Rad 4 - Archive on 4, God Knows I'm Gay.

God Knows I'm Gay. He was an openly gay man, but acrdance wh the Church of England's regulatns, he was not allowed to be volved an active, same-sex relatnship. Mallm Maurt (left) wh Reverend Christopher Wardale The Gay Vir.

Chris has always been openly gay sce his days at theologil llege and fds that his parishners are much more ncerned wh whether he 'do a good funeral'.. Tabloids newspapers threatened to n stori suggtg popular gay sgers were HIV-posive, reverend Richard Col has relled.

TABLOIDS THREATENED TO EXPOSE GAY SGERS AS HIV-POSIVE WHOUT A SHRED OF EVINCE

The gay Rad 4 host, former Strictly Come Dancg star and servg Church of England vir relled his time as part of pop duo The Communards alongsi Jimmy Somerville the 1980s.

REV RICHARD COL: FROM THE COMMUNARDS TO "GAY VIR" NTROVERSY

Speakg a panel discsn for The Guardian as he reflected on acclaimed AIDS drama It’s a S, Col spoke about the way that gay pop stars were hound by the media at the time. Newspapers tried to expose gay sgers.

Slate grey, rather roomy, boxer briefs – the unrgarment of the sensible, gay vir. "There is nothg credable the Church of England's posn on gay relatnships, " he agre. "A while later, he nces that "there are tim when distorts my relatnship wh David, which is the most important thg to me – a feelg that some ways we llu wh a homophobic stutn.

REV RICHARD COL: 'I'M THE GO-TO GAY'

"The Church should repent of s hostily to homosexual people and beg fivens for s treatment of the gay muny. " Such bigotry seems so ntrary to Christ's teachgs, Col says, that "you nnot be a Christian homophobe" is clear, too, on Christian rponsibily to bat HIV/Aids. Taken quickly, often agony, sometim bld, mothers' screams om bedsis, many only jt learng their sons were gay let alone hours om ath.

And all unthkably worst was the first, Mark Ashton, a "very close iend", briefly a lover, and currently beg portrayed as the lead character Pri, the film about Lbians and Gays Support the Mers. When we discs other 1980s gay pop stars and I mentn Boy Gee chag up and beatg a young man, Col repli: "We've all done terrible thgs.

I AM A GAY VIR AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IS AN EMBARRASSG MS

"Growg up realisg you were gay 1970s Bra was like beg a paedophile now – was a life that seemed to offer only disgrace and that was very woundg for me. "It was his late teens that he took an overdose, chiefly the rult of beg unable to nsir any future beg gay, and was sent to a psychiatric hospal. "Somebody wked at me the street the other day – a great big gay wk, which was lightful, but what am I gog to do about ?