Against the Law

It might be hard to imagine to young people these days what horrible and unjust repression gay people had to endure even in the second half of the 20th century. Sadly, there are still some states in our Union that allow people to get fired or denied housing for simply being who they are. Big gains are made, but the struggle continues. " Against the Law", BBC TV movie based on the book written by the protagonist Peter Wildeblood is short, stark and immensely powerful work where the tragic story is mixed in with the heartbreaking testimony of elderly survivors, gay men in their 80's and 90's. Their suffering made them only stronger and braver. You can't defeat human spirit.

Against the Law (2017) (TV) was directed by Fergus O'Brien. It was shown as a narrative feature, but it's more of a documentary about one gay man--Peter Wildeblood--and the many other gay men who suffered horribly in 1950's England.

Peter Wildeblood appears as himself in archival footage, and is portrayed by Daniel Mays. Gay sex was against the law in England in the 1950's. People went to prison if they were discovered, and sometimes they were given electrical shocks or strong emetics in order to change their sexual orientation. (Hard to believe, but true.)

What made Peter Wildeblood different from other persecuted gay men was that, once he was out of jail, he made gay rights a crusade. (People thought he would slink away and go to Canada or the U.S. That's not what he did.)

This is a difficult picture to watch, because the injustice was so blatant. Wildewood died in 1999, but some of the men who were disciplined and tortured are still alive, and haven't forgotten. It's important to see this movie to remember where we were about gay sex, where we are, and where we hope we'll be in the future.

We saw this movie at the excellent Dryden Theatre at Rochester's George Eastman Museum. It was shown as part of the extraordinary ImageOut, the LGBT Film Festival. It apparently was made for TV, so it will work well on the small screen. This was the movie's East Coast Premiere. It's hard to believe that the people in Rochester were able to see it before people from NYC, Boston, or Philadelphia saw it. My compliments to the ImageOut Programming Committee for bringing this film to Rochester.

I was watching a Panel of people discussing the history of injustices and discrimination that our indigenous population had endured and felt more than a twinge of anger when a White women said "of course the white population couldn't identify what it's like to experience that sort of injustice. Well I'd like all heterosexual and homosexual men and women to watch this account of the shameful and cruel injustices handed out to homosexuals in Britain and the same happened in New South Wales until 1984 when homosexual acts between consenting males over 18 was decriminalised. This excellent film deals with Britain's Gay rights history and the penalties and aversion treatments dealt out in Prisons where men like me were humiliated in Court and were prey to blackmail and bashing's that's were totally ignored by Police. It's the true story of Peter Wildeblood played by Daniel Mays in one of the best roles I've seen him play . Peter Wildeblood was jailed in 1952 for having an affair with Eddie McNally a soldier who is given a plea bargain to testify against him so the Court can send Peter and his friends to Prison. On release Wildeblood hears of Lord Wolfendon who is interviewing men like Peter for his report with a view to decriminalisation of consenting homosexual acts with men over 21 years old . The report was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957 after a succession of well-known men, including Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Michael Pitt-Rivers, and Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences. It took another 10 years to implement The recommendations eventually led to the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, applying to England and Wales only, that replaced the previous law on sodomy contained in the Offences against the Person One aspect of Peter Wildeblood's testimony to Wolfendon that upset me was his categorising of Straight acting Gay men and monogamous relationships and his total sell out of his more flamboyant brothers who slept around . Those men suffered more in my view they were bashed some killed many suicided. The film includes some of the actual men who were alive at the time now in their 80's and 90's facing the camera and telling their experiences and impressions. This movie is well acted directed and written and deserves to be seen. It reminded me of the terrible injustice endured by famous mathematician Allan Turing who now is acknowledged as helping Britain to victory in World War 2. Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offence in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES, as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning. In 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a posthumous pardon in 2013. The "Alan Turing law" is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts. I hope that person who said no white person could know what it's like to experience the injustice and discrimination that Black People have endured watches "Against the Law" our lives are much improved and we have Equality today but it was a hard fought and painful journey. I hope we are at last entering the same result and an era when our Indigenous brothers and sisters and that the violence injustice and deaths in custody in Australia and the U.S.A.comes to an end.