Peter Tatchell: ‘I utterly despise characters like Larry Grayson and John Inman’
Peter Tatchell has spoken to the Huffington Post about his work in LGBT rights, gay TV stars of the ’70s and the pop culture role models of today.
As part of HuffPost UK’s Loud & Proud event, which is taking part over the next fortnight, the veteran human rights campaigner revealed that Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant was the entertainment moment that had had the biggest impact on him, as it depicted Crisp’s “enormous courage and defiance in the face of homophobic hostilities”.
He went on to talk about what how TV shows can get it wrong in the representation of gay men, saying that he “despised” the camp portrayal of gay men in the media during the 1970’s, such as John Inman’s character of Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?.
“I used to utterly despise characters like Larry Grayson and John Inman for their negative, stereotypical representation of gay men,” the 64-year-old said. “There’s nothing wrong with camp but in an era where they were the only representation it was a big turn off for many gay and bisexual men who didn’t identify with effeminacy.”
Tatchell was also asked why he thought there were still no big name, A-list Hollywood starts out of the closet, saying he believes that many LGBT celebrities mistakenly assume that coming out will diminish their chances of getting leading roles.
“They are actors, which means they adopt roles and personas that are not necessarily their own, just as many straight actors have convincingly portrayed gay characters, likewise LGBT actors can take on straight roles, so why aren’t they coming out?” he says.
“Some celebrities stay in the closet because they’re fearful of paparazzi intrusion but it’s being secretive that tends to excite paparazzi interest. So that justification doesn’t really hold water.”
Tatchell added he was please there were more positive role models for young LGBT people in pop culture today, as Olly Alexander, Ronan Parke and Paris Lees.
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