Attacks forcimg ‘gays’ back in the closet

Press, 10 February 1988, Page 49

Attacks forcimg ‘gays’ back in the closet

By

RALPH BOULTON

NZPA-Reuter London

British homosexual groups fear that a wave of attacks on the streets and in the news media could force many homosexuals back into the closet of secrecy from which they emerged in the more liberal 19705. The whole issue of attitudes to homosexuality in Britain has become increasingly heated and controversial, with anger erupting in the streets, newspapers, Parliament and churches. The problem was highlighted in dramatic style recently when the normally staid proceedings in the House of Lords (upper House of Parliament) were disrupted by a small group of women descending from a balcony on ropes and shouting, “Shame on you” and “Lesbians are angry.” They were protesting against the Lords’ approval of a new legal clause banning local councils from “promoting homosexuality.” Some artists fear clause 28 of the Local Government Bill could lead to censorship in literature

and theatre and have demonstrated against it. Other homosexual groups feel physically threatened by a whole new atmosphere of hostility. Philip Derbyshire, who runs the GALOP homosexual rights group, told Reuters his figures showed almost a quadrupling of assaults on homosexuals in the last year. The offices of a homosexual newspaper were wrecked in an arson attack recently. “It is not a pretty picture. ‘Queer-bashing’ is on the rise,” Derbyshire said. “The A.I.D.S. scare and constant news media attacks are making for a climate of outright hostility.” He said there were a spate of attacks over Christmas in east London, culminating in a “showdown” when 30 youths turned baseball bats and chains on people leaving a popular homosexual bar. Trouble is not limited to “scene” clubs with their rock music and clientele ranging from conventional dressers to the more outlandish and conspicuous, clad in leather and chains.

The Church of England has also become a battleground of sorts for homosexuals. Church liberals blocked a move to ban homosexuals from the clergy last year and settled for a statement that “homosexual genital acts fall short of the Christian ideal.” But the Bishop of Ripon fired the imagination of the tabloid press by barring the vicarage gate to active homosexuals in his diocese. “No to the pulpit poofs,” proclaimed one newspaper while another outlined "Ten ways to spot a poof” for those wary of their local vicar. The final tell-tale sign emerged as an “undue interest in interior design and a fondness for cats.” The Rev. Richard Kirker, Chairman of the Gay Christian Movement, is battling attempts by his local diocese to evict him from offices at St Botolph’s Church in London. Mr Kirker believes 20 to 30 per cent of Anglican vicars are homosexual. “Some vicars are now having their livelihood threatened. People are afraid as attitudes har-

den,” he said. Mr Kirker accepts that A.I.D.S. contributes to anti-homosexual feeling. “But I think it is more a convenient stick to bash us with. “Tolerance of homosexuality has not been very deep in Britain. It has always carried overtones of deceit and treason,” he said. A 1967 act, legalising homosexual relations between consenting adults, signalled the start of a homosexual rights movement that encouraged many to come out of the “closet” of secrecy and proclaim their sexual preference. “The last two decades had changed public attitudes to homosexuals but, what is more important, it gave gays a more confident view of themselves,” Mr John Marshall, editor of the monthly magazine “Gay Times,” told Reuters. “If what we read in the newspapers is the way people really think, I fear that confidence is endangered,” he said. Mr Marshall conceded that radical Left-wing local councils had harmed the homosexual rights

cause by backing costly and often obscure action groups. Signs of a “backlash” are clear. Conservative politicians are pressing new legislation to ban the “promotion of homosexuality” by local councils. The Conservative Government has said fears about a threat to the arts or civil rights are groundless and that the legislation aims only to protect young people A Right-wing journalist, Peregrine Worsthorne, bemoans the appearance of what he called a “bold and brazen proselytising cult” in the homosexual rights movement. Justified demands for legal rights had grown into obtrusive campaigning for endorsement of their “aberrant sexual tastes.” Accusing liberals of showing intolerance towards those dubious about the growing prominence of homosexual culture, Worsthorne wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: “To the liberal it is quite disgusting, shocking and inexcusable for anyone to find homosexuality disgusting, shocking and inexcusable.”