Ian McKellen: Margaret & Me

The official obituaries have been, as often happens, partial in both senses: sympathetic and incomplete. With regard to the divisive effect of her reign, one omission was significant and glaring: Section 28.

Lest we forget, this nasty, brutish and short measure of the third Thatcher administration, was designed to slander homosexuality, by prohibiting state schools from discussing positively gay people and our "pretended family relations". Opposition to Section 28 galvanised a new generation of activists who joined with long-time campaigners for equality. Stonewall UK was founded, to repeal Section 28 and pluck older rotten anti-gay legislation from the constitutional tree. This has taken two decades to achieve.

Pathetically, in her dotage, Baroness Thatcher was led by her supporters into the House of Lords to vote against Section 28's repeal: her final contribution to UK politics. She dies too early to oppose Parliament's inevitable acceptance of same–gender marriage.

Thatcher misjudged the future when, according to her deputy chief whip, she "threw a piece of red meat (Section 28) to her right-wing wolves". Some of these beasts survive her, albeit de-fanged. When, to take a recent example, a disgraced cardinal delivers anti-gay diatribes, the spirit of social Thatcherism is revealed as barren, hypocritical and now pointless.

From Ian McKellen's website.

And here's Serena writing in the Independent in 2000; "The only good thing I can think to say about Section 28 is that it finally encouraged me to come out. A bit late in the day, but it remains the best thing I ever did..."
Interesting bit of Me-ism there - didn't some other people come out and fight back, Ian?

Update: Disappointing the Mirror was the only national newspaper to run something on this - would have thought it would be a shoo-in this week. 
The Express ran an item under 'Showbiz News' about McKellen - "the X-Men star" - thinking it was a joke when he was told he'd been awarded a knighthood by Downing Street, but without mentioning Section 28 or Tory homophobia.
Quite a feat, though par for the course, of course.