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Mark Gatiss's LGBTQ drama reminds us how far we've come

Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers
Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers

From Digital Spy

BBC Two commemorated the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK with the powerful drama Against the Law on Wednesday (July 26).

The 90-minute one-off mixed a scripted recreation of the harrowing story of journalist Peter Wildeblood (Daniel Mays) and direct testimony of those men who were persecuted under Draconian laws punishing both gay and bisexual man prior to 1967.

Against the Law started off 10 years before decriminalisation as Wildeblood became embroiled in a highly controversial trial, in which he and friends Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers were all charged for being gay in 1954.

Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers
Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers

Wildeblood took the brave step of affirming sexual orientation in front of a hostile court, and it earned him an 18-month prison sentence. During the trial, his own former lover turned state's evidence against him.

However, public outrage over his conviction ultimately led to Sir John Wolfenden leading a groundbreaking government commission to examine whether the punishment of Wildeblood, Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers was too harsh.

Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers
Photo credit: BBC / Dean Rogers

Over the course of ten years, Wolfenden's study and Wildeblood's own advocacy once freed from jail contributed to the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised sex between two men over the age of 21.

This was the first step in a larger fight for the LGBTQ community to achieve true equality, but remains a landmark in the second great civil rights movement of the modern era.

On a day where US president Donald Trump banned the transgender community from serving in the military, Against the Law also reminded us how far we still have to go:

The one-off film was written by Sirens's Brian Fillis, who also penned the Quentin Crisp biopic An Englishman in New York, directed by The Armstrongs' Fergus O'Brien and starred Mark Gatiss in a supporting role as Wildeblood's psychiatrist.


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