'Pri' review: Gay activists and mers fy Margaret Thatcher together this spiratnal but predictable te story

Contents:

• MARGARET THATCHER, A NTROVERSIAL FIGURE ON GAY ISSU, DI AGED 87
• MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE
• THUNR WAIV RUDY GAY, PER REPORT, CLEARG WAY FOR JACK WHE
• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• IRS WHISTLEBLOWER X IS JOE ZIEGLER, A GAY DEMOCRAT
• AS A GAY MAN, I STILL FEEL THE IMPACT OF THATCHER’S SECTN 28
• 'PRI' REVIEW: GAY ACTIVISTS AND MERS FY MARGARET THATCHER TOGETHER THIS SPIRATNAL BUT PREDICTABLE TE STORY
• SEND HUNTER BIN IRS WHISTLEBLOWER INTIFIED AS GAY DEMOCRAT

MARGARET THATCHER, A NTROVERSIAL FIGURE ON GAY ISSU, DI AGED 87

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.

MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE

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. 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.

THUNR WAIV RUDY GAY, PER REPORT, CLEARG WAY FOR JACK WHE

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.

He said: “I told her I was gay when I went to say goodbye to her, and she put an arm on my wrist and said, ‘Matthew that mt have been very difficult for you to say’. Before dyg of AIDS 1985, the Earl of Avon, who was wily known to have been gay, was appoted by the Barons as Unr Secretary of State for the Environment, and before that Energy, om 1983. Malaysia’s ernment has cut short a mic ftival after the lead sger of Brish band The 1975 slammed the untry’s anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate durg their performance.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s ernment Saturday cut short a mic ftival after the lead sger of Brish band The 1975 slammed the untry’s anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate durg their performance. ” Healey ed profany his speech cricizg the ernment’s stance agast homosexualy, before kissg bass player Ross MacDonald. Homosexualy is a crime the untry that is punishable by up to 20 years prison and agency charge of approvg performanc by foreign artists said was disappoted wh the band’s nduct, llg “an sult and disrpectg the laws of the untry.

WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI

” It said the group will be blacklisted om performg wasn’t the first time that Healy ed the stage to fend lbian and gay rights. In 2019, he kissed a male fan durg a ncert the Uned Arab Emirat, which also outlaws homosexual acts, acrdg to media reports. The Thunr waived veteran forward Rudy Gay on Wednday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported, th openg up a roster spot for Oklahoma Cy to sign Atralian wg Jack Whe.

Before waivg Gay, the Thunr was maxed out at 21 players, which is why the reported signg of Whe had yet to be falized. The Thunr’s cisn to waive Gay me as no surprise. OKC acquired Gay, along wh TyTy Washgton Jr., Usman Gaba and a 2026 send-round pick, om the Hawks on July 12 exchange for Patty Mills.

The Thunr was willg to take on Gay’s $6. Gay ranks nth among active players pots (17, 642) and fifth gam played (1, 120). " He acknowledg now that this is a le you n only e once a pch and explas that he went on to tell the story of mers the Dulais valley South Wal durg the 1984-5 strike – the longt Brish history – and a gay and lbian group om London that donated more money (£11, 000 by December 1984) to their e than any other fundraiser the UK, along wh a mib emblazoned wh the logo LGSM: Lbians and Gays Support the a when a gree of homophobia was the norm, LGSM drove a uple of mib om Hackney Communy Transport and a clapped-out VW mper van to a bleak mg town South Wal to prent their donatns, uncerta what sort of wele to expect.

IRS WHISTLEBLOWER X IS JOE ZIEGLER, A GAY DEMOCRAT

"The story had bee a legend the gay muny.

Three years later and the film, shot Banwen, Wal, and London, and directed by Tony-wng Matthew Warch (rponsible for Matilda the Mil, and soon to be artistic director of the Old Vic), is might assume a rom about strikg mers and 80s gays was unlikely to be big box-office, but the same was probably said of Billy Ellt. It is really illogil to say, 'I'm gay and I'm to fendg the gay muny but I don't re about anythg else…'. "In the homema LGSM documentary, we also glimpse a tall, handsome fellow wearg groovy leather troers, shakg a donatns bucket outsi Gay's the Word bookshop London's Marchmont Street – this is Jonathan Blake.

AS A GAY MAN, I STILL FEEL THE IMPACT OF THATCHER’S SECTN 28

She explas how the gay muny ted the mg muny: "Their stggle is siar to our own. Cliff, an olr mer ( the film, a killgly funny and affectg Bill Nighy) appears the documentary sayg: "The lbians and gays have been super duper. "We need a character who, like the dience, arriv bewilred at a Gay Pri march.

Now his ey she as he remembers the Welsh mers who me to London to march wh Gay Pri June 1985. One hope is that the film might revive polil tert bee the activism of the left has been siled, the tra unns are weak, gay rights issu aren't there. Our first sightg of him is wh fox fur and whistle outsi Gay's the Word book shop.

'PRI' REVIEW: GAY ACTIVISTS AND MERS FY MARGARET THATCHER TOGETHER THIS SPIRATNAL BUT PREDICTABLE TE STORY

"Wh the South Wal mers at the 1985 Labour party nference, we put gay rights on the agenda. Tim were tougher for lbians and gay men then. We were well ed to homophobia.

But the nsens was: we have been monised by the prs, maybe we should meet the gay people bee they've also been monised.

" It was not long before Welsh mers warmed to their e: "They started wearg gay badg on their lapels. "Mike marvels at how tim have changed for homosexuals the metropolan first world: "It is unbelievable, we have ma such progrs. Until I was 13, homosexualy was a crime – like makg beg black a crime.

SEND HUNTER BIN IRS WHISTLEBLOWER INTIFIED AS GAY DEMOCRAT

Nowadays, is unol for straight men to be disparagg about gay men. And when he has to make a speech a gay bar wh a clientele whose look is more S&M than M&S, you fear for him – how is all gog to pan out?