40 Years Out in the UK

In contrast, the two-hour drama Clapham Junction was set in modern Britain, where gay men can form legal partnerships. But it managed to suggest that virtually no love or commitment exists in the gay world.

Taking place in London over 36 hours, the drama focused on the interlocking lives of eight gay men. Out screenwriter Kevin Elyot has stated that his intention was to explore the ways in which, even in a supposedly liberal society, bigotry is still bubbling under the surface - particularly given the recent rise in reported homophobic hate crimes in London.

In fact, the program seemed just as much to explore the ways in which, even in an age of equal rights and multiple gay bars and clubs, gay men can still behave self-destructively. Opening with an apparently blissful civil partnership ceremony, we soon cut to one of the grooms trying to have sex with a handsome young waiter at the reception, and even giving him his wedding ring. Other men loitered in toilets and in parks late at night, or went home with strangers, putting themselves at risk. Homophobic violence was often quick to follow.

Of course - as someone in the drama states - the fact that some gay men engaged in this risky behavior did not mean that they “deserved” in any way whatsoever to be beaten or killed. At the same time, the drama seemed unwilling to engage with the fact that women who go out late at night on their own and get raped do not “deserve” it either. But if they have common sense, they will try and avoid that risky situation in the first place whenever possible.

The drama actually failed to explore homophobic violence in any way, beyond showing that it still happens. One of the men, Terry, who commits a brutal, sadistic attack on a man he goes home with, appears to be gay himself. He then is eventually beaten up by another man he cruises. But we get no insight whatsoever into this character's psychology, or what is leading him to behave as he does.

Similarly, one of the saddest vignettes in the drama concerns a violin-playing schoolboy (who may or may not be gay). His schoolmates persecute him for this “unmanly” activity - and he apparently comes to grief at the end. But this story is given virtually no screen time.

Since schools are probably some of the places in Britain where homophobia and homophobic bullying most overtly flourish, it seemed strange, in a film supposedly about homophobia, not to have explored this storyline in any more detail.

Obviously, Clapham Junction was under no responsibility to paint a relentlessly cheery view of gay men's lives. Gay bashing unquestionably happens, it is terrible, and it should be reflected. There is also no reason why every gay character should have to be a role model.

But with an ensemble cast including at least eight gay men, there was plenty of room for the writer to have given us at least one plot thread that wasn't grim, sordid and depressing. Without one single truly happy relationship or storyline, the drama seemed to give the message that the last 40 years of progress have given us absolutely nothing to celebrate. With its raft of cheating, cruising, coke-sniffing, self-destructive characters, it could have functioned very efficiently as a piece of anti-gay propaganda.