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STRICTLY HAS GONE ‘GAY’? WHAT DO PEOPLE THK THEY’VE BEEN WATCHG ALL THE YEARS?
Homophobia is a ser and ntug problem, but was difficult this week not to enjoy aspects of the hoo-ha over Strictly Come Dancg. In what felt like a historil re-enactment of classic 1970s’ curta-twchg, 189 viewers plaed to the BBC about two men partnerg each other on primetime telly, and was hard to know what to lgh at first: the Mary Whehoe tone of the plats, the statement on Instagram by one of the dancers – realisg the full dramatic potential of the moment – that “love knows no boundari”, or the ia that the spectacle of two men dancg uld ever be the gayt thg about Strictly.
Nohels, there was somethg vaguely fortg about the fact that, particularly the ntext of the recent LGBT teachg row, mastream culture at least, plats of this kd about gay reprentatn seem outdated to the pot of schools, of urse, the battle rag on. I looked up the wordg of Sectn 28 and was amazed to fd that, until was overturned 2003, not only did ban lol thori om “promotg” homosexualy, but that, like somethg drafted by the Wtboro Baptist Church, banned “the teachg any mataed school of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship”. Bt to refer them to Alan Partridge: “For cryg out loud, if I really uldn’t bear to nsort wh homosexuals, do you really thk I’d have pursued a reer televisn?
I wish as a gay teenager… I uld have swched on primetime televisn on a Saturday night and seen two men dancg together. "Peter Tatchell, a proment gay rights mpaigner, said that "supposedly harmls banter" n sometim nvey "a whiff of sexism and homophobia". Adams said at the time that was "a brilliant step the right directn" marked a shift by the BBC after had ially led out same-sex upl, wh boss then sayg 2019 that the broadster would be "pletely open" to droppg the requirement for mixed pairs gog move sparked a backlash after two male profsnal dancers were partnered together for a stand-alone number 2019, wh more than 300 viewers lodgg plats about their BBC reported that some viewers found "offensive to feature two men dancg as a pair" after Johann Rabe, who is gay, danced wh lleague Graziano di said he hoped his dance partner would be "up for a challenge, as I want our rout to clu lots of spectacular lifts" lifts are ctomarily performed a mixed pair, wh the male partner leadg and liftg the ordarily lighter female performer, but danc such as the Argente Tango and the Ldy Hop have a tradn of men dancg wh Argente Tango is believed to have evolved as a dance for male pairs – a fact judge Craig Revel Horwood has prevly poted out fence of cludg same-sex upl on will jo prevly announced nttants, cludg Robert Webb, of the edy duo Mchell and Webb, mician and thor Tom Fletcher and TV prenter AJ Odudu, on the show.