Consuming in the Face of Hatred Lifestyle and the Gay Advance Simon Edge

soundings issue 1 Autumn 1995 Consuming in the face of hatred Lifestyle and the gay advance Simon Edge The lesbian and gay movement has emerged as a major political force. But it has done so at a time when male gay consumerism seems to signal - as elsewhere in society- the triumph of market alienation and depoliticisation. Simon Edge explores this conundrum and argues that the visibility of positive lifestyles engendered by consumerism can be an integral part of the political process. t has become fashionable to talk of one-issue movements as the basis for activist politics in the 1990s. The unremitting onslaught of the Tory years Ihas left the old-fashioned political protestor looking like the breed of a bygone decade, and small wonder. The chant 'Maggie Maggie Maggie, out out out!' had become an ingrained cultural ritual by the time the invocation finally seemed to work. Euphoria turned to numb shock as Thatcher's departure yielded something more terrible - an administration whose brutality and petty-minded vindictiveness increased as its competence and moral authority ebbed. For the 163 Soundings dissenting, the Major years have brought the awful realisation that none of the marching, campaigning or badge-wearing made a jot of difference. For better or for worse, grand catch-all schemes of ideology have become the exclusive preserve of Tony Blair and the shadowy Peter Mandelson, and the alternatives are either to get on board or to stand muttering about Clause IV on the mesozoic sidelines. On an individual level, the possibility of making a difference and effecting real change has become restricted to tiny little pocket-handkerchief areas of the political map. These seem unimportant until national politicians are caught out by them, like the siting of a motorway extension or the export of live animals. The emergence of effective activism in unexpected political domains has been exemplified by the muscle-flexing of two interest groups which previously seemed too peripheral to merit much outside attention: the disabilities lobby and the lesbian and gay movement. This article is concerned with the emergence of the latter group as a mainstream political force. Only a few years ago it would have been inconceivable that the pros and cons of lesbian and gay rights should be the centre-stage preoccupation they have become today. Whereas in the 1980s the merest hint at support for gay issues was enough to guarantee a Labour politician or local authority an eternal 'loony left' label, sixty-odd Tory MPs can now vote for an equal gay age of consent with apparent electoral impunity, and the Archbishop of Canterbury can appoint a self-declared 'sexually ambiguous' bishop to the number two spot in the Church of England without any great fuss. (Dr Carey's mind-boggling declaration this February that homosexuals are made in God's image caused barely a ripple.) The last two years have brought Britain's first gay law reforms since 1967, with minor changes to the draconian anti-gay laws in the military and the merchant navy as well as the 'compromise' reduction of the age of consent from twenty-one to eighteen (compared with sixteen for heterosexuals). Furthermore, the disgraceful retention of an unequal age of consent should not be allowed to obscure the fact that the campaign for outright equality by the lesbian and gay lobby group Stonewall came within an inch of success - a dozen or so changed votes would have swung it. The campaign drew in a host of national organisations and public figures, including politicians previously known as dyed-in-the-wool homophobes, and won the support of traditionally gay-baiting papers like the Evening Standard and the Daily Mirror. The Home Office minister in the House of Lords warned 164 Consuming in the face of hatred peers off reversing the 'compromise' reduction, saying the Commons might go the whole hog if the debate were re-run, and Tory opponents of equality, including the mover of the 'eighteen' amendment, have privately admitted that sixteen will be a dead cert next time round. So after years of being hushed up as too much of a political liability to mention, lesbians and gay men have suddenly found ourselves a safe political issue whose rights are conceded by most liberal decision-makers and opinion-formers (although there are shameful exceptions). The phenomenon can seem bizarre. For example, Tony Blair believes he should move away from the trade unions, ditch Labour's paper commitment to public ownership and perform extraordinary somersaults 'The love that dared not over education policy in order not to upset speak its name is now the Middle England voters, but he was prepared to love that won't shut up' take an unprecedented stand against homophobia in his first party conference speech as leader, with the Tory press hanging on his every word. Within weeks of election to the top job, he also attended Stonewall's annual fundraising extravaganza at the Albert Hall - and his casual attitude to the event appeared to rub off on the tabloids, which reported an unfortunate attempt at a joke by film actor Richard Gere but passed no adverse comment on Blair's presence. The question of lesbian and gay equality is, it seems, no longer a hot potato. The shadow cabinet member who voted against an equal age of consent apparently out of concern for her slender constituency majority has been rightly criticised for her cowardice and lack of principle — but her Labour colleagues chiefly derided her stupidity for thinking the issue would matter to the electorate. Just as gay issues have emerged into the political mainstream, leaving their advocates unscathed, so have gay people begun to step more confidently centre- stage. High-profile figures like actors John Sessions and Nigel Hawthorne, comedienne Sandi Toksvig, pop singer Neil Tennant, Tory MP Michael Brown and Bishop Derek Rawcliffe (not to mention the haplessly 'ambiguous' Archbishop-elect of York) have all stepped unharmed from the closet in the last year. Rumours fly around the Tory party that a serving minister is contemplating joining them. The right-wing academic and broadcaster David Starkey makes no effort to hide his gay activist record, but avoids being typecast; no-one bats an eyelid. Gay politics, culture, fashions and lifestyles appear to be endless subjects 165 Soundings of press interest. The BBC runs gay radio and TV magazine shows. And woe betide the soap opera which does not feature a confident, attractive lesbian character. As the nervous hate-mongering columnists in the tabloids rightly put it, the love that once dared not speak its name has become the love that won't shut up. If the blossoming of the gay agenda has come as a surprise to the heterosexual world, it has been a bolt from the blue for the traditional gay activist. For the last five years or so, two apparently connected processes have been at work in the gay community: a breakneck growth in he commercial gay 'scene', which has in turn fostered an explosion of so-called 'pink' services and consumer marketing; and a diminution of overt political consciousness within that scene and the wider lesbian and gay community. Of course, neither process is particularly surprising. Market orientation and depoliticisation are what we have come to expect in the post-Thatcher years. What is surprising is that the gay cause seems to be doing so well out of it. he processes of commercialisation and depoliticisation are real enough. The expansion of the gay scene, exemplified by the development of Old TCompton Street in London's fashionable Soho, has been quite extraordinary. Five years ago, this unremarkable thoroughfare contained a solitary gay pub. This is still thriving, but the street now also boasts a continental-style gay cafe/bar, a gay restaurant, an all-night gay coffee shop, a gay hairdresser, a gay cab company, a gay tanning salon and two gay retailers, one stocking pornography and sex aids as well as mainstream gay fashions and books, the other carrying more upmarket designer gear. It also hosts an annual 'queer' street carnival. Within two minutes' walk are another two large cafe/bars and a second gay cab firm. This relatively small area has become the commercial hub of the gay community, both in London and in the country as a whole. Its emergence has not undermined gay businesses elsewhere in the capital - Old Compton Street is simply the most concentrated example of a wider phenomenon. Although some gay and straight entrepreneurs have fallen prey to the get-rich-quick hype peddled by enthusiasts of the 'pink economy', the number of venues all over London has steadily increased, and more and more gay establishments are springing up outside the capital. London has eclipsed San Francisco, New York and Amsterdam as a gay tourist destination, which means Old Compton Street can reasonably claim to be the centre of the gay universe 166 Consuming in the face of hatred (although the fact that a handful of small shops and bars can merit such a description says more about gay oppression than the street itself). As the social centres have multiplied, so has the number of spin-off services aimed at gay people. There are now three paid-for glossy magazines aimed at the lesbian or gay communities, compared with a single title just two years ago, while the free press is increasingly used by advertisers and promoters as a marketing instrument to access 'pink' spending. Gay people in the capital can use gay solicitors, mortgage brokers, therapists and dating agencies, which they can locate using a glossy directory of lesbian and gay services, updated on a regular basis and distributed free at gay venues.

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