ABSTRACT
I begin by considering two contexts which contain public discussion and commentary about gay men from a generally non-gay perspective. As in most cases where authorship is multiple, it is not always possible to state conclusively that all of the people who contributed towards the creation of the data examined in the following two chapters are not gay – in this chapter for example, one speaker, Lord Alli, does identify himself as gay and there may be others who are gay but choose not to be forthcoming with the information. However, for the most part, the following two chapters consider discourses of homosexuality that are imposed by others. As the discourses of homosexuality that can be traced to the late nineteenth century were similarly applied by a powerful external body (the medical profession) rather than by the people who claimed homosexual identities, it is fitting to examine two similarly powerful external bodies who, to a greater or lesser degree, are able to influence the attitudes and behaviours of the rest of the population. Chapter 3 considers the tabloid press, who reach millions of readers on a daily basis, whereas this chapter examines British Parliament – which ultimately has had the power to decide whether gay people should be classed as criminals or not.
