Third Ear - Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Bill prohibits the "promotion of homosexuality". Concerned about its effect upon the arts, and fearing for its implications on a wider scale, actor Ian McKellen questions the purpose and logic of the Bill. Newspaper editor Peregrine Worsthorne argues for the Bill in this forthright discussion.
This programme was recorded in advance of its broadcast. Ian McKellen only realised after the recording that he was speaking openly about his sexuality without ever having discussed it with his family. At the age of 48, he officially 'came out'. The following year, he became a founding member of the political lobbying group Stonewall, which campaigns for gay equality.
