Former Brish Prime Mister Margaret Thatcher, who was a ntroversial figure mov towards equaly and who was hailed by some as a gay in, cludg the artists Gilbert and Gee, died of a stroke this morng.
Contents:
- SPIR OF MARGARET THATCHER VOKED BY TORY BACKERS OF GAY MARRIAGE
- MARGARET THATCHER'S LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTSIRON LADYTOM DORANUPDATED APR. 21, 2017 10:48AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 08, 2013 10:49AM EDT VERY SOON, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO MOVE FOR TRIBUT, MEMORIALS AND NUNCIATNS OF MARGARET THATCHER, BRA'S LONGT-SERVG POSTWAR PRIME MISTER AND PROBABLY THE MOST DIVISIVE POLICIAN OF MORN TIM. I HAVE LTLE TO ADD MYSELF (THIS PIECE BY THE INPENNT'S JOHN RENTOUL BROADLY REFLECTS MY FEELGS), BUT THERE IS ONE ASPECT OF HER LEGACY THAT IS LIKELY TO GET SHORT SHRIFT MOST REMEMBRANC: GAY RIGHTS.HERE, AS WH MOST OF HER ACHIEVEMENTS, 'S A MIXED BAG. AS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MP) THE 1960S, SHE WAS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF CONSERVATIV TO VOTE FOR THE CRIMALIZATN OF HOMOSEXUALY, A TLY FORWARD-THKG AND BRAVE GTURE THAT SHE SERV A GREAT AL OF CRED FOR.SADLY, AS PRIME MISTER, SHE WOULD SQUANR MUCH OF THAT CRED (IRONILLY ENOUGH, FOR A POLICIAN WHO PUT SUCH STOCK THRIFT) BY LENDG HER SUPPORT TO ONE OF THE NASTIT ANTI-GAY MEASUR OF MORN TIM: THE FAMO SECTN 28 OF THE LOL GOVERNMENT ACT 1988, WHICH FORBA SCHOOLS OM TEACHG "THE ACCEPTABILY OF HOMOSEXUALY AS A PRETEND FAY RELATNSHIP". THIS WAS SPE THE OPEN SECRET (AMONG WTMSTER SIRS, AT LEAST) THAT SEVERAL PROMENT MEMBERS OF HER ERNMENT WERE THEMSELV GAY, ALBE RERCED-STEEL CLOSETS. IT REMAS ONE OF THE DARKT SPOTS ON HER LEGACY. HISTORY, HOWEVER, ALWAYS PROCEEDS WH A GOOD DOSE OF UNTEND NSEQUENCE. IT WAS SECTN 28, MORE THAN ANYTHG ELSE, THAT GALVANIZED AND MOBILIZED THE MORN BRISH GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT WHICH, JT A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, IS ON THE VERGE OF SECURG FULL LEGAL EQUALY FOR GAYS AND LBIANS. IN HER HEART, I DOUBT THATCHER REALLY REGRETTED THAT VELOPMENT. TOM DORAN
- MARGARET THATCHER, A NTROVERSIAL FIGURE ON GAY ISSU, DI AGED 87
SPIR OF MARGARET THATCHER VOKED BY TORY BACKERS OF GAY MARRIAGE
Sign up for the View om Wtmster email for expert analysis straight to your boxGet our ee View om Wtmster emailToday marks 30 years sce Margaret Thatcher's Conservative ernment troduced s highly ntroversial Sectn 28 clse, part of the Lol Government Act 1988, banned the "promotn" of homosexualy by lol thori and Bra's schools. Councils were meanwhile forbidn om stockg librari wh lerature or films that ntaed gay or lbian them, forcg young people to look elsewhere for tnal material, fdg solace novels like Jeate Wterson's Orang Are Not the Only F (1985) and the posive exampl set by the era's "out" or androgyno pop stars. Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference, June 1987 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty)Activists also stormed the BBC on 23 May 1988, handcuffg themselv to a TV mera and disptg a broadst of The Six O'Clock News prented by Sue Lawley and Nicholas Manchter, more than 20, 000 people marched agast Sectn 28 while the actor Ian McKellen me out publicly for the first time orr to voice his Thatcher, rponsible for the first new homophobic law to be troduced a century, had voiced her opposn to gay rights at the 1987 Conservative Party Conference Blackpool.
"Children who need to be tght to rpect tradnal moral valu are beg tght that they have an alienable right to be gay, " she said. "She was embolned to exprs her prejudice by a rise homophobia exacerbated by the AIDS/HIV crisis and s hostile verage the right-wg tabloid Tori palised on this sentiment that same year's electn mpaign, suggtg that Labour was tent on seeg pro-LGBT+ books tght school, a powerful piece of rhetoric at a time when the 75 per cent of the populatn believed homosexualy was "always or mostly wrong", acrdg to a ntemporary Brish Social Attus survey. Sectn 28 marked a disturbg backwards step for tolerance and clivy after the stris ma by the Brish LGBT+ movement sce the crimalisatn of male homosexualy 1967, a surge of progrs that had seen activists fe allianc wh Labour unns and the Natnal Unn of Meworkers, as picted the film Pri (2014), and the electn of Margaret Roff, Bra's first "out" lbian mayor, Manchter pernic fluence of the clse unqutnably played a huge role legimisg hate and rercg playground homophobia and bullyg, monisg LGBT+ children and ensurg many stayed imprisoned the closet for fear of social reprisals or clse endured until was repealed Stland on 21 June 2001 and the rt of the UK on 18 November lear and later PM David Cameron apologised for Sectn 28 as a "mistake" on 1 July timely passg arguably reprented a watershed moment for LGBT+ rights Bra and marked progrs has sce been ma, a procs facilated by the emergence of Twter as a platform for cultivatg more sensive attus towards qutns of reprentatn and diversy.
Tory supporters of equal marriage are makg an eleventh hour plea to fellow Conservative MPs to vote favour of reform by vokg the rerd of Margaret Thatcher, who supported the legalisatn of homosexualy the fears No 10 that David Cameron may stggle to w the support of a majory of his MPs, reformers are potg out that Thatcher set herself apart om Tory tradnalists who scribed the bill legalisg homosexualy as a "dirty measure". Chris Graylg, the jtice secretary who furiated Cameron durg the last general electn mpaign by sayg that owners of bed and breakfasts their hom should "have the right" to turn away homosexual upl, rallied to the prime mister's an article for the gay magaze Attu, Graylg wrote: "Of urse we need to protect the right of the dividual to have a nscience and of relig stutns to follow their own path. The Liberals, the Conservativ and the Socialists did not put one word their maniftos about this so-lled homosexual reform.
MARGARET THATCHER'S LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTSIRON LADYTOM DORANUPDATED APR. 21, 2017 10:48AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 08, 2013 10:49AM EDT VERY SOON, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO MOVE FOR TRIBUT, MEMORIALS AND NUNCIATNS OF MARGARET THATCHER, BRA'S LONGT-SERVG POSTWAR PRIME MISTER AND PROBABLY THE MOST DIVISIVE POLICIAN OF MORN TIM. I HAVE LTLE TO ADD MYSELF (THIS PIECE BY THE INPENNT'S JOHN RENTOUL BROADLY REFLECTS MY FEELGS), BUT THERE IS ONE ASPECT OF HER LEGACY THAT IS LIKELY TO GET SHORT SHRIFT MOST REMEMBRANC: GAY RIGHTS.HERE, AS WH MOST OF HER ACHIEVEMENTS, 'S A MIXED BAG. AS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MP) THE 1960S, SHE WAS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF CONSERVATIV TO VOTE FOR THE CRIMALIZATN OF HOMOSEXUALY, A TLY FORWARD-THKG AND BRAVE GTURE THAT SHE SERV A GREAT AL OF CRED FOR.SADLY, AS PRIME MISTER, SHE WOULD SQUANR MUCH OF THAT CRED (IRONILLY ENOUGH, FOR A POLICIAN WHO PUT SUCH STOCK THRIFT) BY LENDG HER SUPPORT TO ONE OF THE NASTIT ANTI-GAY MEASUR OF MORN TIM: THE FAMO SECTN 28 OF THE LOL GOVERNMENT ACT 1988, WHICH FORBA SCHOOLS OM TEACHG "THE ACCEPTABILY OF HOMOSEXUALY AS A PRETEND FAY RELATNSHIP". THIS WAS SPE THE OPEN SECRET (AMONG WTMSTER SIRS, AT LEAST) THAT SEVERAL PROMENT MEMBERS OF HER ERNMENT WERE THEMSELV GAY, ALBE RERCED-STEEL CLOSETS. IT REMAS ONE OF THE DARKT SPOTS ON HER LEGACY. HISTORY, HOWEVER, ALWAYS PROCEEDS WH A GOOD DOSE OF UNTEND NSEQUENCE. IT WAS SECTN 28, MORE THAN ANYTHG ELSE, THAT GALVANIZED AND MOBILIZED THE MORN BRISH GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT WHICH, JT A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, IS ON THE VERGE OF SECURG FULL LEGAL EQUALY FOR GAYS AND LBIANS. IN HER HEART, I DOUBT THATCHER REALLY REGRETTED THAT VELOPMENT. TOM DORAN
I have ltle to add myself (this piece by the Inpennt's John Rentoul broadly reflects my feelgs), but there is one aspect of her legacy that is likely to get short shrift most remembranc: gay, as wh most of her achievements, 's a mixed bag. As a member of Parliament (MP) the 1960s, she was one of only a handful of Conservativ to vote for the crimalizatn of homosexualy, a tly forward-thkg and brave gture that she serv a great al of cred, as Prime Mister, she would squanr much of that cred (ironilly enough, for a polician who put such stock thrift) by lendg her support to one of the nastit anti-gay measur of morn tim: the famo Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988, which forba schools om teachg "the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship".
This was spe the open secret (among Wtmster sirs, at least) that several proment members of her ernment were themselv gay, albe rerced-steel closets.
It was Sectn 28, more than anythg else, that galvanized and mobilized the morn Brish gay rights movement which, jt a quarter of a century, is on the verge of securg full legal equaly for gays and lbians. Former Brish Prime Mister Margaret Thatcher, who was a ntroversial figure mov towards equaly and who was hailed by some as a gay in, cludg the artists Gilbert and Gee, died of a stroke this morng.
MARGARET THATCHER, A NTROVERSIAL FIGURE ON GAY ISSU, DI AGED 87
Dpe some ntroversy around Sectn 28, which 1987 banned the teachg or promotn of homosexualy and was passed unr her ernment, Barons Thatcher supported legalisg homosexualy the 1960s, the face of fierce opposn om Tory tradnalists. In 1967, she voted favour of the crimalisatn of homosexualy, England and Wal. While she was Prime Mister, was ma legal to be legal to be gay Stland 1981 and Northern Ireland 1982.
On Sectn 28, at the Conservative Party Conference October 1987, Barons Thatcher attacked “posive imag” of gay people durg her speech, sayg she worried that: “Children are beg tght that they have an alienable right to be gay. He ntued: “In 1988, the Thatcher ernment legislated Bra’s first new anti-gay law 100 years: Sectn 28. At the 1987 Conservative party nference she mocked people who fend the right to be gay, suatg that there was no such right.
Gay men were wily monised and spegoated for the AIDS panmic and Thatcher did nothg to challenge this vilifitn. In his first major terview on gay rights, back 2006, Conservative MP Francis M, said that his party’s approach to gay rights the 1980s and 1990s were wrong, that Sectn 28 was a mistake and exprsed his love for his openly gay brother who died of AIDS 12 years ago. Matthew Parris, the journalist and polil mentator, said he wished he had e out as gay while he was a Tory MP the 1980s, and also said that that Barons Thatcher knew he was gay.