Channel 4 led the gay revolutn TV | Letters | The Guardian

Contents:

• C4 ANNOUNC NEW SEASON, 50 SHAS OF GAY
• CHANNEL 4 LED THE GAY REVOLUTN TV
• CHANNEL 4 GLAD TO PNEER THE FIRST GAY DRAMA ON BRISH TV

C4 ANNOUNC NEW SEASON, 50 SHAS OF GAY

Epimic [w/t] tells how an unlikely aln of gay mpaigners, Tory policians, and pneerg doctors me together to fight AIDS the 1980s – and changed Bra the procs. Born This Way (w/t) reveals that while mpaigners were battlg Parliament for legal reforms, pop mic was changg hearts and mds, brgg gay culture to the livg rooms of Bra.

CHANNEL 4 LED THE GAY REVOLUTN TV

And Bra’s Great Gay Buildgs, famo fac such as Simon Callow, Lord Waheed, Anna Richardson and Mary Portas champn the buildgs where extraordary moments Bra’s gay history took place.

Far om herg an end to prejudice, 1967 unleashed a backlash of homophobia enforced by the police and the urts, as many aspects of gay life ntued to be illegal. This landmark film tells the behd-the-scen upliftg story of how an unlikely aln of Tory policians, pneerg doctors and gay men me together to fight a adly disease wh no cure – and how Bra was changed forever by the battle agast AIDS the 1980s. Together they overme a homophobic prs, the ignorance of the medil tablishment, and the outright hostily of Margaret Thatcher, orr to create a mpaign that would change hearts and mds about AIDS – and gay men.

Channel 4 marks this momento anniversary wh the story of the fearls & flamboyant artists– om global ins to hidn hero – who ed pop mic as gay culture’s Trojan Horse, scg all wh a soundtrack to die for. Channel 4's dited short arts strand Random Acts is partnerg wh Tate on s Queer Brish Art 1861-1967 exhibn, which marks the 50th anniversary sce the crimalisatn of male homosexualy the UK. In Bra’s Great Gay Buildgs, prented by Stephen Fry, 7 famo gay fac champn the buildgs that have helped fe Bra’s gay history, revealg the groundbreakg events that happened them and extraordary people who lived and worked them.

CHANNEL 4 GLAD TO PNEER THE FIRST GAY DRAMA ON BRISH TV

The Reverend Richard Cole reviss Heaven Nightclub after many years to reveal s hedonistic past, Mary Portas viss Shibn Hall Yorkshire to disver the secret diari of a Yorkshire heirs, Craig Revel Horwood revels the story of Bra’s drag scene at the Royal Vxhall Tavern, Simon Callow tells the story of Osr Wil’s downfall at the Old Bailey, Rikki Beadle Blair viss the Theatre Royal Haymarket to disver how the Brish public showed their support for Sir John Gielgud after his arrt for ttagg, Liz Carr travels to Bletchley Park to vis the place that fostered one of Bra’s greatt scientists Alan Turg and Lord Waheed Alli tells the story of the Ho of Parliament’s recent battle for gay rights. It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc.

Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage. Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010).

For years, ranged, perverse, and spible homosexuals were on full display — pecially om Ryan Murphy, who remas our most proment culture czar when to queer characters on TV. From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy.