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| Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) |
Fifty years ago, on 27 July, 1967, the Sexual Offences Act began decriminalising homosexuality between men in England and Wales. We’ve undoubtedly come a long way since, although the struggle for worldwide equality isn’t over by a long shot.
To remember the landmark Act, the British Film Institute at London’s Southbank is presenting a season on the pioneering – and potentially problematic – depiction of LGBT+ life on British screens immediately before and after the Sexual Offences Act was passed. This stretches from the 1957 publication of the Wolfenden Report, which suggested that homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence, to 1978 before the onset of the AIDS crisis. Part One will be screened in July and Part Two in August. Many of the shows and films have rarely been seen. Highlights include a screening of Edward II (1970) on 24 August with a Q&A from Sir Ian McKellen, whose performance of King Edward gave us British TV’s first gay kiss.
BFI’s Simon McCallum, who curated the season, says that South (1959) is his favourite show from Part One. “It is the first surviving British TV drama with an obliquely gay theme. Set in the American Civil War, it becomes clear that the Polish exiled soldier is in love with an officer. A lot from that era doesn’t survive, so it could have been a lost moment. Peter Wyngarde was brave enough to take on the role, too.” Peter will be doing a Q&A after the film on 3 July.
The screening entitled Gays and Lesbians on TV: The Early Documentaries on 26 July is also particularly significant. “The documentaries, shown in 1964 and weeks before the Act, are important for younger queer people to see,” says Simon. “It’s the first time TV dealt with it, but it was from a heteronormative viewpoint and is sobering viewing, so will hopefully inspire them to carry on the fight for equality.”
Yet it is Victim (1961), starring Dirk Bogarde, that is the film Simon feels is most important to bring back to the screen. “It played a modest but key part in public debate to change the law,” he says. “The team who made it was influenced by the Wolfenden Report. It was the first time gay men were depicted relatively sympathetically and homosexuality was even mentioned on screen. Blackmail, the topic of the film, was a massive issue for gay men, particularly those who were high-profile.”
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| Nighthawks (1978) |
Simon is aware that the 1967 Act was a double-edged sword in many ways. “The anniversary is not a case of ‘This is a perfect piece of legislation, let’s celebrate’,” he says. “Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell suggests that prosecutions actually went up after the Act, as it was only private acts that were decriminalised. Other countries need to implement this legislation themselves. In Chechnya, we’re seeing homosexuals being murdered and tortured – we seem to be going backwards.”
And as Simon says, “It’s not just about gay men, despite the Act.” The World Ten Times Over (1963) can be seen as the first filmic lesbian relationship. “Lesbians were also socially ostracised and taboo on screen,” Simon notes. “Censorship meant that they couldn’t be explicit but the actors did their best.
“Then there is I Want What I Want (1972), a film about a young trans woman, played by a cisgendered actress – which is problematic now but was progressive at the time. You root for her blossoming into her true identity.” The screening on 30 August will be followed by a panel discussion led by Rhyannon Styles, the first trans ELLE magazine columnist.
Simon also hopes to spark a conversation on diversity. “Where are the people of colour? There are only really white gay men seen in the archive, and it is a concern. We can’t reimagine the archive. The 1971 film Girl Stroke Boy starring Peter Straker as a gender fluid character was radical – he was the first black actor in a queer lead role.” In the film, the parents don’t know the gender of the date their child has brought home.
“We want to include diverse voices, but there is very slow progress,” says Simon. “Campbell X’s Stud Life(2013) takes a rare look at the black lesbian experience, and there are very few representations of queer Asian lives. An upcoming film, God’s Own Country (2017), from the BFI Film Fund, about a queer Romanian migrant worker in Yorkshire, feels like a step forward – love across the divide. It’s baby steps.”
It was baby steps during the decades the season traces, too – but there was a significant progression. “Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) was the first time in a major film that bisexuality and homosexuality were not really problematised, and nor was the age gap between the couple – it strikes a more modern note,” says Simon. “The final film, Nighthawks (1978), is explicitly gay; a film like that could finally be made, after a lot of work.” In it, a gay schoolteacher comes out to his pupils and is disciplined. It was based on real cases – teachers were dismissed, even after the Act. Simon says, “Many see it as dour and downbeat, but I don’t see it like that – it explores the separation between people’s public and private lives. It was funded by the gay community, and often anonymous donors – much like crowdfunding now – as the mainstream industry was prominently heterosexual.”
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| Girl Stroke Boy (1971) |
We’re seeing a similar progressive movement now. “TV shows went right into people’s living rooms, and the viewing figures in the Fifties and Sixties grew and grew,” says Simon. “There weren’t many channels available either, so it could carefully infiltrate British culture. Now, with webseries and queer grassroots filmmaking, there is radical stuff happening where people can’t secure mainstream funding. They have an outlet where they need very few resources. Young queer people can access stories that resonate with their own lives, which was hard in the past. The landscape has changed, with online streaming – shows like Transparent have a platform through this.”
Simon admits that some of the shows are problematic and pander to stereotypes. “The way of life is never shown as though it is going to end in happiness. The Killing of Sister George (1968) is controversial even to this day, and many lesbians take exception to the depictions. It features blatant lesbian stereotypes, and is directed by a straight man, Robert Aldrich. Beryl Reid stars as a foul-mouthed, gin-soaked TV actress who goes crackers. It is seen as an exploitation film – Susannah York plays Childie, who is submissive, and Coral Brown’s Mercy is a predatory TV exec. Their sex scene is explicit for the time. But it is a valuable document of its day and is set in some great London locations, including the Gateways, a lesbian club on Kings Road.
“Then you have Staircase (1969), which features a couple of gay hairdressers. Their bickering wears you down after a while. Two big stars agreed to do the film – Rex Harrison, and even Richard Burton, who we now know was homophobic. One of the men is awaiting sentencing and they are facing life without one another, so there is an element of pathos to it. These are real curios from another era.”
But it’s not all serious business. The drag double bill of What’s A Girl Like You… (1969) and Black Cap Drag(1969) brings some fun to the season, too. “Drag connects young queer people with their history, and it’s popular now, with shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race,” says Simon. “But queer spaces like the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and The Black Cap are at risk; the latter is still closed. Queer East End nightspot The Glory will host an after-party after the screening, to provide a taste of drag today. There’s a social and intergenerational element to the season.”
If you can’t get to London, there is an online collection for LGBT Britain, which will also be touring to venues around the country.
