TV tonight: a punchy seri of edy shorts kicks off wh This Is Gay | Televisn & rad | The Guardian

Contents:

• TOM ALLEN: THE IA OF GAY SHAME STILL PERVAS
• TV TONIGHT: A PUNCHY SERI OF EDY SHORTS KICKS OFF WH THIS IS GAY

TOM ALLEN: THE IA OF GAY SHAME STILL PERVAS

Image source, Aemen SkarImage ptn, Allen says edy is a place where people n explore and celebrate their quirksAt the turn of the lennium, when edian Tom Allen was a teenager, a celebry g out as gay regularly ma headle late Boyzone sger Stephen Gately was splashed across the ont page of the Sun when he revealed he was gay 1999. When Brian Dowlg won the send seri of Big Brother 2001, the fact he was gay was notable and groundbreakg.

Society was a perd of transn at the time, wh attus towards homosexualy beg ls hostile. And wh them me chang the law to improve gay rights. "Those were such seismic events 15 or 20 years ago, " says Allen, whose new memoir studi the shame he felt growg up gay.

"Image ptn, Allen recently appeared on a Covid-safe edn of Mock The Week, alongsi Rhys Jam and Athena KugblenuOcsnally, a story volvg homosexualy still has the power to make the news headl today, but only when 's somethg really out of the ordary. Meanwhile, progrs ntu to be ma on gay rights.

TV TONIGHT: A PUNCHY SERI OF EDY SHORTS KICKS OFF WH THIS IS GAY

Equal marriage was troduced the UK 2014, and earlier this year Prime Mister Boris Johnson announced plans to outlaw gay nversn therapy were beg brought Allen not is "still tricky" for gay people to e out. "Add to which, young gay people still feel hibed lots of ways.

And not jt about beg gay - several of his personaly tras were the subject of ridicule, such as his drs sense, mic taste and posh accent. I wasn't gay when I was four, although I knew I was different.

But s gone by, such a style was a ccial way for gay people to munite. "That programme went out on Rad 4 on Sunday afternoons the 1960s, and wasn't legal to be gay at that pot, and yet here they were talkg gay slang.