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Sir Ian McKellen speech highlight of Stonewall Equality dinner
Sir Ian McKellen
Oscar winner on the matters closest to his heart
"Coming out politicised me"
Sir Ian McKellen was the guest of honour last night at Stonewall’s annual Equality Dinner.
Sir Ian – a co-founder of Stonewall - made the keynote speech in front of the 540 guests, where he spoke about coming out and the effect it had on his personal life, but also how it made him more politically minded.
“When I’d come out,” said Sir Ian, “I’d heard about a whole group of people who I would never have met with whom I had something in common. I had joined a community.
“[But] it was 20 years ago. The biggest story regarding gay people in this country was about AIDS and our lives were beginning to become a matter of public discussion.
“The media began to consider gay sex seriously and for the first time started publishing the truth about gay people’s lives.
“And then the bombshell of Section 28: “A local authority shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or promote the teaching in any school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”
“It was about that time we stopped wearing pink triangles, the symbol of oppression and started to wear the rainbow, the symbol of hope.
“And the idea for a permanent professional lobby which would prevent the government ever again making a mess of gay lives was suggested to me by the unlikely figure of one of Mrs. Thatcher’s Chief Whips.
“It appealed to me because coming out had politicised me.”
The night raised £320,000 for gay rights.
