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[cell door slams]
Any man who takes a criminal path...
should be mindful of the consequences.
My name is Peter Wildeblood.
-[MPs shouting]-Order! Order!
[MP] May I ask the Right Honourable Home Secretary
the number of cases involving male perversion this year
and how he intends to deal with this evil?
[Peter] Much of my private life has been made public
by the newspapers,
so I have nothing left to hide.
[MP] Roughly 5,500 offenses have been recorded...
and over 600 offenders sent to prison.
[MPs cheering]
[Peter] I don't pity myself and I do not ask for pity.
But I am speaking out.
To give some hope and courage to other men like myself
and to the rest of the world some...
understanding.
I am a homosexual.
[rattling]
[MP] So long as I hold office,
I shall give no countenance to the view
that they should not be prevented
from being such a danger.
[MPs shouting in agreement]
[dog barking]
[jazz song in distance]
[talking and laughter]
Whiskey, please.
[piano plays faintly]
[train whistle]
[deep breath]
I-I wonder... Could I buy you a drink?
Doesn't work that way, darling.
Not unless you're willing to play the part.
No.
So, you're not a queen, then?
It's a pity. You're quite pretty, really.
-Not a rough, either. -I'm a homosexual.
-A what? -A homosexual.
Homosexual?
I see.
I thought that was just something doctors called us.
Do all the queens use this word now?
-I... I don't know. -I'm not sure I like it.
-[door opening] -Come along, Fanny, dear.
See you later, dear heart.
Coming, ducky.
[door closing]
[laughter]
[Peter Price] At that particular time there was...
You might call it a purge on people who were gay.
We were considered sick.
We were considered, you know, child molesters.
The police went out of their way to catch you,
and... and the Members of Parliament...
"This filth... this is going to ruin the nation.
We must stub it out."
I can't remember the name of the Home Secretary then.
He was one of the worst.
David Maxwell Fyfe. Sir David Maxwell Fyfe.
Later Viscount Kilmuir.
[clears throat]
Well, he embodied
all the worst attitudes
of the British establishment.
You could be arrested for just looking at somebody.
In the street, you know.
Winking at them or smiling at them.
And...
I thought, "This is mad.
This world has gone a bit potty."
I have to say, it made it even more exciting,
because, you know, it is exciting,
avoiding the police, keeping a lookout.
It's like being a member
of an underground sect or something,
and you get a great kick out of it.
Wherever you went was liable to be raided,
whether it was a pub
or it was a private drinking club
or it was a private party.
And you would have your name and address
printed in the paper.
[dog barking and traffic roaring]
[gasps] Oh, I'm sorry!
[chuckles] It's... It's fine.
[sighs]
Erm... do you need directions?
No. No, I'm erm...
I'm just... I'm down off leave from Ely. [chuckles]
And erm... it's going to rain again.
Any minute.
So, erm... if you want to stay,
there's a sofa, which should be perfectly comfortable.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, it should. Yeah.
It's a bit small.
And besides...
you and I could erm... fuck maybe.
Live a little.
[chuckles]
What?
"You and I could fuck, maybe." [laughs]
[laughs] What?
The romance of it.
Dead romantic.
That's one of my best lines.
[laughs]
-Heading back to Ely? -In two days, yep.
So, what do you do?
-I'm a journalist. -Oh, right. Which paper?
-The Mail. -Nice.
Not really. It's... Well, it's quite dull, actually.
Hmm.
Well, it was nice meeting you.
I'll erm... you know... keep in touch.
I mean it.
Do you want me to?
-Well, yes. I'm... -All right, then.
[car horn in distance]
Being a gay was a very tricky business.
It was frowned upon by society.
It was punishable by imprisonment.
It was illegal. It was everything you could mention.
I mean, you couldn't even talk about it.
I felt very uncomfortable about it. Certainly.
If heterosexuals had been subject to the force of law
for being heterosexual,
if their relations had been frowned upon,
it's most unlikely they would have settled
into long-term marriages.
They had public opinion and the law behind them.
In the case of homosexuals,
the law and public opinion
were very distinctly against them,
so I think the whole climate was opposed
to the building of relationships.
In fact, I think many gay people half believed,
because they were told so often,
that, if you were gay, you couldn't have a relationship.
It was a no-no, so I had to be on my own.
And so I've been used to it since childhood,
being a loner.
Never enjoyed it, I can tell you. It was awful.
But that's... that's the way it is.
[knock at door]
Well, would you look at that! He meant what he said.
-Fancy a kick-around? -You're joking! [chuckles]
Oh, not physical, then?
-Not even at school? -Football?
I was useless. Always the last to get picked.
I can imagine, actually.
I used to just gather with all the other outcasts.
Teachers despised us for it.
One of them said, "Oh, yes, there they are.
The sops.
Sops of a feather flock together."
Come on.
[pan sizzling]
-Is that you? -Oh, stop it!
We have to be a lot more careful.
I know. I know. I'm... unschooled.
You're telling me. Am I the only poof you know?
No.
I know Edward, Lord Montagu, through my work.
Smile all you like, Mr Inverted Snob.
He is very nice.
So, it's love, then?
Never thought you'd come out of your shell far enough.
Neither did I. [chuckles]
What's his appeal?
He's... confident.
Physical.
A bit dim.
I suppose I always thought...
Go on.
I thought I'd meet a boy like him, and...
he would make me brave...
and in return...
I would make him wise.
-You're blushing. -[chuckles]
All right, it's stupid. You know, it's comradeship.
Plato wrote something along those lines. Do you know it?
Two men, very different strengths,
but when they come together...
an army of such lovers could conquer the world.
Bring him down to Beaulieu.
When did you last have a holiday?
Oh, God. Three, four years ago.
Bring him down to Beaulieu.
Hmm.
[sighs]
[Eddie] Just a small party?
God, you are such a...
Live a little.
Yes?
[faint jazz singing]
[murmur of conversations]
Well, I think this party is really rather...
Boring? Boring as fuck?
[chuckles] Yes. That's about the size of it.
I thought the aristocracy knew
how to let its hair down.
Mm-mn. You thought wrong.
[chuckles]
["The Hour of Parting" by Maxine Sullivan playing]
What happened to "be careful"?
No one about, you daft ape.
♪ Love ♪
♪ We know that love cannot die ♪
♪ But now we're saying goodbye ♪
Three weeks.
I know.
[closing door]
You're blossoming, Mr Wildeblood.
[song continues on radio]
♪ Love ♪
♪ The hour of parting is near ♪
-♪ And in my heart I can hear ♪ -[train rattles past]
♪ The song we heard When I met you ♪
♪ We two were saying love ♪
♪ We know that love cannot die ♪
♪ But now we're saying goodbye ♪
My dearest, darling Eddie...
♪ The parting hour is near ♪
I love you so much.
♪ The parting hour... ♪
There.
I've said it.
♪ Is near ♪
In the '50s,
homosexuals were in a kind of secret world of their own.
It was... They were on...
another, rather delightful planet, in a way.
It was fabulous. I was doing whatever young people do.
I wanted to dance. I wanted to have beautiful clothes.
I wanted to have lots of sex. I wanted somebody to love me.
It was a world in which...
there was no class difference at all,
and that, I think, was one of the things
which made it very, very attractive.
Members of the upper classes have always fancied
members of the lower classes.
I was never actually
particularly attracted to posh boys,
but I did sometimes meet them if they looked right,
and so I did find myself in the situation
of mixing with a much wider range
of social classes, I think,
than straight boys of my background would have done.
There was this strong sense of community
within the gay world.
And that rendered us not impervious,
but able to resist these awful...
How should I say?
This constant barrage of propaganda,
of depiction of us as being evil.
[thunder rumbles]
[phone ringing]
-Wildeblood.-Peter, it's Edward.
-Oh, hello, Edward. -Are you alone?
Yes.
I'm at the police station.
I called them about a camera
that went missing at my place.
I was, am, fairly sure it was one of the Boy Scouts
we have showing the public round on open days.
That's terrible.
The... Boy Scout made certain...
allegations against me.
False, of course.
I'm a public figure, Peter.
They're trying to make an example of me.
Well, I thought you should know.
Yes, thank you, Edward.
Good luck.
[reporter] At Winchester Assize,
the trial of Lord Montagu continues.
He stands accused of indecently assaulting...
He took the stand to claim his innocence
and said he was the victim of a police witch hunt...
[radio] ...news at five o'clock.
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu was today acquitted
of several counts of indecent assault.
The jury's decision was unanimous
and brings to an end an acrimonious trial
in which Lord Montagu claimed
to be the victim of a smear campaign...
When the trial collapsed and the public realised
that it was all manufactured evidence,
the general public did find that...
erm... distasteful.
It made me feel angry, really.
I'd look back on it and I thought,
Yeah, I was quite angry about this rubbish.
You know, I got quite worked up about it.
I mean, all gay men
throughout the country felt that.
And not only gay men,
but the general public, luckily, were feeling that.
Why is Montagu being harassed like this?
You know, what is the point?
It seemed to me it did turn public opinion
against all that was going on.
But on the other hand,
I think there was a kind of feeling
among the police force
that they would get him in the end.
[click of cigarette lighter]
Thank you.
[door closing]
Mm-hm. Ah.
Hmm?
These letters - who wrote them?
You know who wrote them.
I want to hear it from you.
Give me the dirt on Montagu and his two pals.
Look, you might lose your job,
but I'll keep you out of prison.
[knock at door]
-Are you Peter Wildeblood? -Yes.
I'm arresting you on charges of gross indecency
and buggery with certain other male persons.
Where do you sleep?
-My bedroom's upstairs. -Anyone up there?
No.
Don't you have a warrant?
Sit down.
You were in Beaulieu this summer?
Yes.
Are these your parents?
Yes.
And this one... is Edward McNally?
Is this your handwriting?
[weakly] Yes.
[water dripping]
[sighs]
[breathes raggedly]
This could go very badly for you.
Very badly indeed.
What you should do is make a statement,
and you just get bound over.
Make a clean breast of things.
Tell me about Montagu and his chum Pitt-Rivers
and all of them, and then I'll...
No.
-No, I couldn't do that. -And why not?
Because...
sops of a feather flock together.
Hadn't you heard?
[engine rumbling]
[camera flashbulb clicks]
The ones, for example, who had previous convictions...
it would be a fair cop.
"Very sorry." Plead guilty.
Those who had never experienced
the police intruding would be very upset
and were the more likely ones who would plead not guilty
and challenge every aspect of the observations.
I still say it was an inherent weakness,
and still is.
They went into these practices...
knowing that there's a great element of risk
of being arrested,
being exposed, if you'll pardon the expression.
Three or four weeks after I met Lee,
I realised without doubt that he was the one person
I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I wrote him a long letter,
telling him of my feelings for him and my hopes for us.
I thought he'd be so pleased about this letter,
and I couldn't believe it - he was so angry.
I said, "What's the matter?"
He said, "Well, the letter you sent to me
could have landed us both in prison."
I was 14 years old, and I had a boyfriend.
He had written me a letter, very stupidly,
and I had dropped the letter,
and my father said, "What's this?"
Um... I can remember him now, God bless him,
"I'm having no son of mine a queer.
You're going to the doctor."
So I was taken down to the doctor, who said,
"You've got a disease," which was great...
"You've got a disease."
I never accepted that I had an illness.
I accepted that I preferred to go to bed with a man
rather than a woman.
I didn't see that as an illness.
But I did see it as something which you kept to yourself,
because of the implications, because of the consequences,
if you didn't.
You are each charged with gross indecency,
buggery, attempted buggery, aiding and abetting buggery,
procuring male persons for acts of gross indecency
and conspiracy to incite male persons
to commit gross indecency.
To each of these charges, how do you,
Edward Montagu, plead?
Not guilty.
To each of these charges,
how do you, Michael Pitt-Rivers, plead?
Not guilty.
And to each of these charges,
how do you, Peter Wildeblood, plead?
Not guilty.
[keys jangling, door opens]
All right?
I've been better.
Right. The form is basically we deny everything.
None of us are queer, we've never dabbled,
never even been tempted.
Right?
It's very hard to prove.
The word "love" on a page means nothing.
I thought we'd be all right.
We were discreet.
-Why are they doing this? -Just stay calm, Peter.
The case for the prosecution begins with Wildeblood.
In March 1952, Wildeblood met
an RAF Corporal in Piccadilly.
His name is McNally and he'll be called as a witness.
McNally is a pervert.
Wildeblood took him back to his flat
and there committed an offence, namely buggery,
with this McNally.
McNally had a friend called John Reynolds,
also a queer.
You've probably never heard of that term.
Wildeblood was a friend of Lord Montagu.
Mention was made to Lord Montagu of John Reynolds.
Introductions were arranged.
Offences against Reynolds were committed by Montagu
at Wildeblood's flat in London.
And on a trip to Beaulieu,
joined by Michael Pitt- Rivers, an orgy took place.
McNally and Reynolds are men
of the lowest possible moral character.
Taken under the seductive influence
of the lavish hospitality of these three men
so infinitely their social superiors,
they were willing parties to unnatural acts.
It would be dangerous to convict
any of the defendants
purely on the evidence of men such as McNally and Reynolds.
We hope to satisfy you by letters and other documents,
that there is copious confirmation
that the story these man, Reynolds and McNally,
are telling is true.
On that date in December when you attended his property,
did you see Wildeblood?
He came to the door.
-Where did you go with him? -To the living room.
Did you suggest to him that he write a statement?
No, sir.
Did you promise him
that if he wrote a statement he'd just be bound over?
I did not.
And the letters you showed him, he recognised these
as letters written by himself and McNally?
Indeed he did, sir.
I didn't think this could happen in Britain.
I didn't think the police...
Well, now you know.
The rotten apples aren't the odd ones out, Peter.
They're bastards. Jesus.
Try to stay calm.
You're next, McNally.
Call Edward McNally.
Over there.
-You are Edward McNally? -Yes.
Do you know the accused, Peter Wildeblood?
Yes.
Look at the accused and confirm
he is the man known to you.
[softly] Yes.
When you spent the night at his flat,
where did you sleep?
In the bedroom with Wildeblood.
Did anything occur between you?
We committed buggery with each other.
Did you write this letter to him - Exhibit 44?
Yes.
[reads letter] "Dearest Peter,
I've really got it bad, sweetheart.
In fact I haven't felt so happy for a long time.
Just to let you know, I haven't forgotten you,
and I never will."
Did you mean those words?
I thought I did, sir.
Were you what you would describe as
"in love" with Peter Wildeblood?
Yes, sir.
Did you receive this letter from him - Exhibit 45?
Yes.
[reads letter] "You are so much a part of my life
that I do not think I could ever do without you.
I love you as much now as I did
when we spent our lovely holiday together,
the happiest time I have ever known."
Did you believe those words?
I suppose so, sir.
Did you believe Peter Wildeblood
to be in love with you?
Yes, sir.
Why did he do this to me?
Why did Eddie do this?
You know why he did it.
To save his own skin.
Forget him.
[sobs]
[Keith Biddlecome]I joined the Navy
ten days before my 17th birthday.
It was on HMS Reggio that I was...
to put it crudely, caught in the act.
I was court-martialed,
charged with buggery and gross indecency.
Then I was asked to give the names of the people
with whom I had slept or had anything to do with,
and was told,
"If you tell us their names, you're looking at 12 months.
If you don't tell us their names,
you're looking at five years."
I gave them the name of an army officer
with whom I had spent a night ashore.
They found him,
and one day the warder, screw, came in and said,
"The chap's blown his brains out."
And that is something which I've had to live with
for over 60 years.
Erm... it is still...
I-I hate myself for it,
but it was just one of those things.
[clerk] Call Peter Wildeblood.
[door opens and shuts]
Place your right hand on the Bible,
take the card in your other hand and read the statement.
I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.
Counsel for the Defense.
Is your name Peter Wildeblood?
Yes.
Are you a homosexual, Mr Wildeblood?
Yes, I am.
Thinking back to July 1952,
how would you describe your relationship
with Edward McNally?
I'd become fond of him.
He is not educated, but he is intelligent.
My work made me live in a kind of way
I didn't much enjoy,
and I like to be able to relax
with someone who is quite simple,
unpretentious and fond of me.
What kind of letters was he writing to you?
They were emotional letters.
They contained endearments of an unusual kind
for two men to exchange.
And you wrote similar letters to him?
I was extremely lonely at that time.
You are familiar with what happened to Oscar Wilde?
Oscar Wilde was accused of gross indecency.
I have never committed gross indecency
nor buggery with anybody.
You never committed these offences with Edward McNally?
No.
Mr Wildeblood, when you went into this box
you took the oath in solemn form, you realize that?
-Yes. -To tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes.
You know that we've heard McNally,
your friend of some 21 months,
describe in detail what took place between you and him.
You've heard the letters sent by you to him
during this time read out in this court.
Do you still say you've told the whole truth?
I do.
Have you any suggestion, then,
as to why McNally would tell such wicked lies about you?
Well, I should have thought his motive
was perfectly obvious.
He did it to save his own skin.
Were you attracted to McNally?
I was not physically attracted to him.
How do you say you were attracted to him, then?
-Emotionally. -Emotionally?
This McNally was very much your social inferior.
-Why then? -During the war,
I fought alongside men from many different backgrounds.
I don't recall anyone objecting then.
Before God, I entirely commend that sentiment,
but what the jury may wish to know is this.
Why would you,
a highly intelligent man, a beautiful writer...
want to spend 21 months of his life
with an uneducated RAF corporal
from the pits of Glasgow?
That night in Piccadilly when you met,
did you smile at each other?
I cannot remember.
When you got into conversation,
did a smile pass between you?
I should think, possibly, yes.
-You took him to your flat? -He had nowhere to go.
-Resisted all temptation? -Yes.
You didn't even kiss him?
No, I did not.
You never felt the need for physical expression
of a healthy, emotional young man?
I was incapable of sexual expression.
Incapable?
[moaning]
Have you consulted a doctor?
No.
"Dearest Peter, I've really got it bad, sweetheart."
What had he got bad? Love, was it not?
I don't accept for a moment...
"In fact, I haven't felt so happy for a long time."
Because of his friendship with you, yes?
Because of his friendship with you?
-Yes? -Yes.
This is being written in bed.
[reads letter] "Wish you were here,
but the RAF have definite views on such things."
Would a young man write those words to you
if you and he had not been intimate?
Well, this young man would.
[reads letter] "My dearest darling Eddie,
oh, how relieved I was to hear from you at last.
You are so much a part of my life
that I do not think I could ever do without you."
Was that right?
He was a part of my life.
"I love you as much now as I did
when we spent our lovely holiday together."
On this holiday, you spent the whole time
-resisting temptation? -Yes.
What, then, made it so happy for you?
The friendship, you know, the...
the conversation, the...
the bathing.
The weather?
[reads letter] "All the love I've ever known, P."
That was all the love I have ever known.
The arrest must have placed a considerable burden on you.
If you're born a sexual invert,
you will always have a burden on your soul.
If there was any way of getting rid of it,
I should only be too pleased,
because it has been a handicap to me
and led to nothing but loneliness and unhappiness.
I have no further questions.
[clerk] Witness is dismissed.
To the charge of buggery,
do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty?
Guilty.
To the charge of gross indecency,
do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty?
Guilty.
To the charge of conspiracy to incite
male persons to commit gross indecency,
do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty?
Guilty.
To the charge of procuring male persons
for acts of gross indecency,
do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty?
-[dialogue fades out] -Guilty.
[reporter] The Montagu trial ended today
with jail terms for all three accused.
Mr Justice Ormerod passed sentences of
12 months imprisonment on Lord Montagu
and 18 months each
on Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood.
I'd read all about it in the newspapers
and I thought, "Good God, it's awful."
They were determined to get verdicts of guilty
on the three men involved,
Montagu, Wildeblood and Michael Pitt-Rivers,
and they were sent to prison of course,
and the two airmen who testified against them
were given immunity.
I didn't know how Peter Wildeblood...
how the judiciary and the police behaved.
I didn't understand that
and I mean, when I read it, I was filled with terror.
This is the kind of stuff that was reality.
It was real.
This is what happened to you if you were gay.
It was pretty heavy-duty.
I don't know how it didn't deter me completely,
and of course it did deter lots of people.
There were lots of very unhappy gay people
really trying hard to be straight.
Gradually people were talking.
Whereas this been a taboo,
now it was a taboo that was being discussed.
That gave me an edge of hope
at a time when I didn't have very much of that around me.
[door clangs]
[knocking]
[guard] Wildeblood!
[low chatter]
I seen you come in.
You look better in real life than you did in the papers.
Oh.
Thank you.
It looked like you was dead or something.
How's your porridge going?
It's... ok, it's going.
Yours?
All right. Two more years.
That RAF lad stitched you up proper, didn't he?
Not on, what he did to you.
[guard] Form up!
Be seeing you.
[door closes]
8505 Wildeblood, sir.
Wildeblood, yes.
Have you given any thought to what you might do
when you've finished your sentence?
I plan to carry on as before, sir.
Well, you'll certainly be returning
to an institution like this if you do.
I meant, I shall go on writing.
I suspect you'll find that
rather harder than you imagine.
Do you know someone called Iris?
Well, yes, sir.
Quite a common name in your... circles?
Iris is a woman, sir.
Are you willing to undergo
medical treatment for your condition?
Yes, sir.
Then you'll see the psychiatrist in due course.
That'll be all.
[cell door slams]
[typewriter keys clatter]
All the things that once defined me as a man
have evaporated...
distilled down to a revolting caricature
of homosexual man.
[hits wall]
[voices arguing]
[buzz of chatter]
Hello again!
Hello.
It's rotten how they did you.
There but for the grace of God, you know.
I'm sorry?
It's the people who have a little queer streak
of their own that do us most damage, if you ask me.
On the plus side, this place is packed with queers,
receiving mostly.
[door clangs]
I arrived there
with a couple of other prisoners, I think.
Ah, it really did frighten me.
You had the openly gay people
who didn't seem to care if anyone knew they were gay.
They flaunted round in groups,
were quite outrageous, effeminate,
girly names all the time.
On the other hand, there were the undercover Marys,
as we liked to refer to them,
those who had, for one reason or another,
good reason not to be blatantly gay,
and there was certainly a certain tension between them.
The governor said, "We know why you're here...
and I want nothing
of a homosexual nature
for you to try and take,
because if you do, you'll be here forever."
Being homosexual was such an aberration,
terrible, worse than anything,
worse than a murderer, much, much worse.
There were times when one thought,
"Will they ever understand
that there's nothing unnatural about us at all?
We're perfectly natural human beings
with a natural desire for love."
And it increased one's sense
of alienation from society as a whole.
I mean it just destroyed my... my... my...
personality, really.
I couldn't let... I couldn't be who I was,
so I had nothing.
[banging on cell door]
[Peter] I now know what it is like to be a criminal...
to know that everything you do will be misunderstood,
or used as evidence against you.
[banging on cell door]
It makes me fearful of my future,
and fear is a terrible emotion.
It's like a black frost, which blights and stunts
all the other qualities of a man.
-Dan, that's really... -Pick it up, then.
Got to keep your strength up.
Pinched it out the garden.
Make your cell feel a bit more like home.
[sniffs]
[sobs]
[retching]
-[knock on door] -Come in.
Sit down.
Wildeblood, isn't it?
Yes, sir.
"Openly... homosexual."
Do you attend the orgies?
Orgies?
Yes. In Chelsea and other places?
Male homosexuals gather together
and engage in unnatural practices.
-Really? -So I'm told.
I haven't heard of this, sir.
"Does not attend the orgies."
You want to be cured?
Yes, sir.
Well, there are a number of options.
I understood that glandular injections
or hormone treatment...
We've tried estrogen injections
on a couple of cases here,
but with no great degree of success.
One man underwent physical changes
of a... a somewhat alarming nature.
We use aversion therapy.
How does that...?
Electrical aversion,
electrodes fixed to the wrists, calves, feet.
You'd be told to fantasize,
watch pictures of men in various states of undress,
receive shocks.
Does it leave... marks?
They fade after a while.
Or chemical aversion, apomorphine injections.
Produces nausea.
You vomit, then you lie in it,
no cleaning up allowed -
an essential part of the therapy.
For how long?
Two days, sometimes three, it depends.
I shouldn't be here.
This shouldn't be happening to me.
You broke the law, Wildeblood.
Then the law is wrong.
The two treatments, the kindest one
was that you would go to a counselor, psychologist.
The... worst one, the worst option
was that you would have aversion therapy.
And aversion therapy...
was probably the three worst days
of my 67 years on this earth as a nurse.
[Peter Price]They gave me an injection.
I don't know to this day what it was.
I've been told, but I can't remember now.
Which made me feel very queasy,
and really started to react with inside me
and... pretty horrendous.
And I said, "Excuse me,
I think I'm going to be sick."
He said, "That's fine, just be sick."
So I said, "Well, could I have a bucket or something,
or a bowl?"
"No, just be sick."
And then I started feeling queasy down below
and I said, "I've got to go to the toilet."
"Don't worry about it, just do it."
There was no talk-to-talk,
about... about your... what you thought,
like modern therapy would go into,
no dialogue between the therapist and you
with regard to your feelings and so on.
There was no opportunity to express yourself.
It was simply... It was simply medical treatments
with tablets that tried to damp you down.
And for 72 hours, I... Well, I had nothing left,
there was no sick coming up, there was no...
poo coming out, there was nothing,
there was no water coming out of my penis,
there was nothing.
I was a mental wreck,
and this nurse was embarrassed
and I can see his face now.
He just didn't know what to say to me,
and I certainly didn't know what to say to him.
I can only say to you and all those
that have had this dreadful treatment,
as a nurse, I'm sorry that I was complicit in it.
I can't do any more. I can't undo what's been done.
I can only say I'm sorry.
Ooh, absolutely beastly thing!
I was scared for my life! It just fell out in front of me.
I thought he was gonna bite my bottom off!
[giggling]
...on me, bite me on the bottom!
[giggling]
Absolutely beastly thing!
I was scarred for life!
Anyway, I'd dropped my soap...
thought better of it.
"I can't! She'll go for me, right on the derriere!"
You landed on your feet there, girl.
He's a lovely bit of stuff.
You get right in there.
Sorry.
Touched a nerve?
Your business, I'm sure.
Seen this?
-Wolfenden. -A committee.
They might want to change the law against queers.
They want people to come forward, have their say.
There's a few things I could tell them.
We should all do it, don't you think? Band together.
No!
No. We're not the same, you and I!
[cutlery clatters]
[metallic scraping]
[Peter] I am a homosexual.
For many years,
I kept this a secret from my family and friends
and tried privately to resolve my struggle
in a way as consistent as possible with moral law.
I do not believe I ever did any harm to anyone.
If any harm has been done, the fault lies not with me
but with those who dragged
into the merciless light of publicity
things which would have been better left in darkness.
If there is bitterness in my words,
I hope it will be the bitterness of medicine,
not of poison.
[Frank Stanton] Just before he was imprisoned,
he had just bought a house not far away from our flat.
When he came out of prison,
his neighbours had put up a big notice, "Welcome home",
and I think that that, more than anything,
gave Peter tremendous encouragement.
These ordinary local people
were accepting him for what he was.
[Peter] I must have my say.
Wolfenden needs to hear the truth.
I'm trying to get through to Malcolm Farr,
the Home Office.
Yes, I can wait.
[Derek Granger] I realised,
with the setting up of Wolfenden and even before,
that there was a change in the air.
It was the first indication
that the law against homosexuality
might at least be reconsidered,
the first glimmer of hope.
And so we all knew about it, straights and gays.
May I say, Mr Wildeblood,
how very grateful we are to you
for finding time to talk to us this afternoon.
Not at all.
But I was particularly aware of it
because it so happened I was having an affair
at the time with Jeremy Wolfenden,
who was the son of Sir John Wolfenden,
who was Head of the Committee.
[chuckles]
You say there are three distinct types of homosexual.
Yes.
The men who regard themselves as women,
through glandular or psychological maladjustment.
-Group A? -Yes.
Group B: pederasts.
I cannot speak on their behalf.
I regard them the same way a normal man might regard
those pederasts who prey on young girls.
And Group C? Men like yourself?
Homosexuals in the strictest sense:
adult men who are attracted to other adult men.
Men who desire to lead their lives
with discretion and decency.
Neither corrupting others
nor publicly flaunting their condition.
We are by far the largest group of homosexuals.
-The discreet homosexual? -Yes, my Lord.
We seek to find another of our own kind
and if possible,
form a permanent attachment in private.
But the law, as it stands,
makes this kind of arrangement
fraught with risk.
A promiscuous and temporary liaison
is far less likely to provide corroborative evidence,
letters, that kind of thing, in court
than an association in which genuine trust
and fidelity play a part.
[Wolfenden] I see, yes.
[clears throat]
I was going to ask a little more about Group A,
the glandular category.
They're known as pansies.
[soundtrack drowns out dialogue]
People of that kind are born like that.
To that extent I suppose they're not responsible.
What they are responsible for is their nuisance value.
They cause a lot of bad public feeling
towards the other, more discreet homosexuals.
When I ask for tolerance...
it is for men like us.
Not the corrupters of youth,
not the effeminate creatures
making an exhibition of themselves.
I speak for the men who,
despite their tragic disability,
try to lead their lives as decent citizens.
There are many thousands of us,
how many we do not know.
I believe that we would be better
and more useful members of society
if we were allowed to live in peace,
instead of being condemned to live outside the law.
What did you do that for? Stop it! Stop!
Because you're a fucking homo!
Thank you, Mr Wildeblood.
You've been most helpful.
Thank you, sir.
You know, I was very pleased at the recommendations made
and I thought, "Well, the law will change,"
but it wasn't changed for another nine or ten years.
And when it did change, you know, as I said earlier,
I thought, "Oh, yeah, nice condescending thing to do."
I was quite irritated by it.
-[interviewer] Why was that? -Yeah.
Because I thought, you know,
all this "consenting adults in private..."
If you had a threesome, say,
you know, you could be brought up, sent to prison.
Not that people wanted threesomes,
but you know what I mean.
It had to be in private in a house,
and if there were other people in the house,
you know, you were breaking the law.
The change in the law that took place in 1967
I'm quite sure had an enormous effect
on a huge number of gay people.
But the problem was, it was a minor change.
They weren't going to turn round
to their parents and say,
"By the way, I'm gay, and it's legal now,
so you can't do anything about it."
They were still going to be hiding, hiding themselves.
It would take a social change to bring real freedom
to these people, not a legal change.
That is not to minimise the benefit the legal change made
if nothing else, to stop people
going to prison for something
that was nobody's business but their own.
My mother was saying, "I know what you're going to do.
Later on, when I go, you'll marry a non-Jewish girl."
I said, "Mum, I won't marry a girl at all."
It must have been a shock to her,
but she just called me a dirty dog.
I did hold back particularly
because I knew my family would disown me, pretty well,
and here I am now.
And fortunately...
I mean it was only literally
since September of last year,
that I was able to come out to my family,
well, to my sister, my younger sister.
Even now, I sometimes pinch myself and think,
"Is it true, has it happened?"
And I'm... I'm astonished.
I would never have thought that the law would change,
that public opinion would change.
-Hello, darling. -Hello, darling.
-How are you? -Not bad.
-Oh, good. -And yourself?
-All right, thank you. -Good.
-You had a good time? -Very good time.
Oh, good.
Well, we were the first couple in Westminster
as well as in the country
to actually form the civil partnership,
which was very exciting actually.
["Dry the Rain" by the Beta Band playing]
Lee died two years ago.
We'd been together 66 years
and I found that letter that I wrote to him
amongst his effects,
and the address, his name, my name, had been cut out.
So I folded the letter up and placed it in his coffin
so that it went with him wherever he went.
Queer.
Homosexual.
Poofta.
♪ Say it out loud, it'll be OK ♪
♪ I will be your light ♪
♪ If there's something inside That you want to say ♪
Hello.
Shirt lifter. [laughs]
[interviewer] Flamer.
Never heard that one. Slamer?
-"Flamer", as in a flame. -Flame, Flamer.
Never... Not one I've ever heard of.
I hadn't heard "brown hat".
-Nancy boy. -Queen.
Friend of Dorothy.
♪ I need love ♪
-Fag. -Bender.
Batty boy.
Fairy.
-You're very good at that. -[laughs]
I've heard it once or twice.
♪ It'll be OK ♪
♪ I will be your light ♪
♪ If there's something inside That you want to say ♪
♪ Say it out loud, it'll be OK ♪
♪ I will be your light ♪