Gay activists remember Margaret Thatcher's homophobia | Xtra Magaze

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• 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
• MARGARET THATCHER: GAY IN
• GAY ACTIVISTS REMEMBER MARGARET THATCHER’S HOMOPHOBIA
• SPIR OF MARGARET THATCHER VOKED BY TORY BACKERS OF GAY MARRIAGE
• ‘ONE OF ’: THE QUEER AFTERLIFE OF MARGARET THATCHER AS A GAY IN
• LAVENR MENACE, WT & WIL AND OTHER 80S GAY LERATURE SUPPLIERS WERE LIFAVERS

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

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.

"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.

Wh ntributns by Marxists, femists, Thatcher, ‘Wets’, post-lonialists, haggraphers and haters, the volum range across topics as diverse as privatisatn, terrorism, media relatns, immigratn, foreign affairs and Thatcher’s unlikely appropriatn as a gay in. Margaret Thatcher was – and remas – reviled by swath of queer Bra for troducg Sectn 28, the law which banned the “promotn” of homosexualy schools and by lol thori.

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

At the time of her ath 2013, human rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell said she “did nothg to challenge [the] villifitn” of gay men at the time, who were “wily monised and spegoated for the AIDS panmic”.

You would be hard prsed to fd a recent Brish law more ntroversial and more reviled than sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act the late 80s, the gay and lbian people of the UK were loudly mandg equaly, much to the chagr of tradnalists. Sectn 28 was the Conservative ernment’s rponse; Margaret Thatcher’s answer to those who believed “they have an alienable right to be gay” vaguely word law prohibed lol thori and schools om “promotg” homosexualy and prevented uncils om fundg much-need lbian and gay iativ.

MARGARET THATCHER: GAY IN

At a time when gay people were stgglg to pe wh the Aids epimic, was a llo attempt to supprs an already margalised Conservative policians, sectn 28 was an easy, short-term w.

GAY ACTIVISTS REMEMBER MARGARET THATCHER’S HOMOPHOBIA

It was an obv populist gamb to solidify support among the 75% of the populatn who thought that homosexual activy was “always or mostly wrong”.

’ Photograph: Joel GoodmanAt the time that sectn 28 was beg discsed parliament, I was one of Manchter cy uncil’s gay men’s officers, workg on issu such as employment, service livery and velopg muny groups. I had also helped to set up the North Wt Campaign for Lbian and Gay Equaly, the group rponsible for orchtratg the Manchter had a secret office the town hall attic where more than 100 people would meet every week.

SPIR OF MARGARET THATCHER VOKED BY TORY BACKERS OF GAY MARRIAGE

What we were dog was pletely one the group had anised such a large event before, but a re group had been very active the gay movement sce the early 1970s. The gay scene was que small and I knew the owners of the lol venu went to the gay bars and clubs – such as New Unn, Rembrandt, the Thompsons Arms and Napoleon – where the owners agreed to stop the mic so that we uld speak about the march and sectn 28. There were also lots of qutns about sectn 28’s possible impact on gay bars and clubs, as well as ncerns about the attu of the police force.

Photograph: Rick Colls/Rex/ShutterstockUnr the then chief nstable of Greater Manchter, Jam Anrton, the police were very hostile and were raidg gay bars and clubs. I had experienced some harassment on the street and the gay village, but no one would report hate crim bee of the attu of the police. Twenty thoand turned up for the march, and revalised the gay movement the TempleOn 23 May 1988, the eveng before sectn 28 me to force, lbian activists stormed the BBC News stud where Sue Lawley was midway through the Six O’Clock News.

Michael CashmanNow a Labour polician, 1988 Michael Cashman was his send year on EastEnrs, where he played Col, one of the first gay characters a natnal soap. It had the date of the London march agast and I knew that, as a gay man playg another on televisn, I had to be there or I uld never look at myself the mirror aga.

‘ONE OF ’: THE QUEER AFTERLIFE OF MARGARET THATCHER AS A GAY IN

Sectn 28 had been brought on the back of the stigmatisatn and discrimatn suffered by gay men; particular those alg wh Aids and HIV. Michael DanceSchools were one of sectn 28’s ma targets, wh the bill prohibg the promotn or “acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship”.

What was brilliant, though, was that my school turned out to be 100% supportive and that I had the support of straight teachers and the Hargey branch of the Natnal Unn of Teachers, which always stood up for gay teachers natnally.

LAVENR MENACE, WT & WIL AND OTHER 80S GAY LERATURE SUPPLIERS WERE LIFAVERS

And, of urse, had a terrible effect on young people: stunts suffered homophobic abe silence and teachers and schools did nothg about sectn 28 ma me more ut, however, didn’t stop me om takg up issu to do wh sexual liberatn or equaly. I remember one stunt dog a prentatn on the difference between HIV and Aids to dispel the myths about the ia was a “gay plague”, which ed major tert among the stunts. History has vdited those who fought agast this legislatn that enshred bigotry and PowerFound 1987, the weekly Pk Paper helped to mobilise lbian and gay rears agast sectn 28.

What we had at the time was a gay movement that was very good at fightg among self and very good at batg polil pots – but wh no history of makg alli wh the wir world and no effective lobbyg Power … ‘Sectn 28 brought what we lled the scene queens together wh the polil. Some people the gay movement were angry that we had started somethg that acted like a straight lobby group, but we were nvced need dog. In 2009, the then Tory lear, David Cameron, who had prevly backed the law, apologised for s troductn and scribed as a “mistake” that was “offensive to gay people”.

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.