Queer as folk; Glasgay! began as a cheeky form of political defiance,

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Oct 31, 2004 | by Words Stephen Phelan

Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act, outlawing the "intentional promotion of homosexuality" by regional and city councils in the UK, was never an effective piece of legislation. There were a few minor legal scuffles over youth groups and town libraries, but various health and education loopholes made the whole thing nonsensical, and nobody was ever prosecuted for breaching it. All it really did was rally a few rabidly homophobic newspaper editors and activate everyone with a threatened sense of their civil liberties.

Gay rights groups Stonewall and OutRage! were given a clear and urgent reason to exist. Lesbian action-women abseiled into the parliament building and stormed the BBC's Six O'Clock News. And in Glasgow, in 1993, a small group of local artists decided to put on a gay and lesbian art festival - celebration being a valid, positive and cheeky form of defiance.

"The Glasgay! festival was a direct response to that legislation," says Steven Thomson, the new producer of the event which begins tomorrow. "It was a way of saying that we will have positive models of gay people represented in our society; we will promote gay culture, and we will not accept the government's attempts to dictate against that."

Eleven years on, Section 28 is long gone - wiped off the books in a rare and decisive move by the new Scottish Executive in 2000 - but Glasgay! remains, attracting a wild range of acts and more than 7000 people last year. The Arts Council and Glasgow City Council provide the bulk of the (pounds) 100,000 funding, and this year, city councillor and Equality spokesperson Irene Graham has been appointed the chair of the festival's board of directors. Graham's role is "to network" and her presence itself is a sign of the times. "I think it's fair to say things have shifted quite a bit in recent years," she says.

And Glasgay! has had to question its identity. In the beginning, founder and theatre director Cordelia Ditton assembled a small, impressive programme of angry, outspoken performances, with an emphasis on stage work, addressing the struggles and politics of homosexuality.

"Cordelia's drive and vision got the whole thing going," says long- serving board member Lorenzo Mele, director of the 7:84 theatre company. "But at the time it didn't have a very broad vision, and it wasn't really a festival that belonged to the city on a grassroots level."

In 1995, Glasgay! was still a relatively minor, special-interest event, and when Ditton moved on in 1997, it almost didn't happen at all, until Mele and a few others threw some acts together at the last minute. Gradually, it became the UK's biggest gay and lesbian arts festival, more visible and more diverse, but money has always been a problem. "Glasgay! has grown to the point where it's a part of the city," says Mele. "It's fed by the local community and it attracts high-profile acts from elsewhere. But we never have quite enough funding to commission new work, which means we tend to rely on city venues, such as the Citizens Theatre or the Stand comedy club, to programme events in rhythm with what we're doing. It's a strength and a weakness." And according to Mele, the organisers always ask themselves the same question: "What exactly is a gay arts festival for?"

"Especially now the age of consent has been equalised, Section 28 is off the statute books, and there's talk about same-sex partnership legislation going through. Oppositional politics is always easier, in a way, because it can create a homogeneity which doesn't exist in 'peace' time," Mele says.

Base a festival around a specific theme like death metal, or flowers, and you'll attract a defined audience. But base it around the nebulous, subjective concept of sexuality these days, and you might be appealing to nobody in particular. But Thomson would rather broaden the appeal right out.

This year, he's changed the Glasgay! slogan to Glasgow's Annual Celebration of Queer Culture. Queer has been a problematic word in the past, but Thomson's definition is entirely inclusive, embracing "a variety of social types who don't feel represented by mainstream culture".

Thomson's first programme features comedy, drama, cabaret, performance art, movies, singing and a carnival based around the Seven Deadly Sins. "I wanted an emphasis on work by artists who just happen to be gay. Their gayness informs the work, but it's by no means the interesting thing about what they're doing. It's important to stem cultural amnesia, and we do that by presenting artists at their queerest and quirkiest, by presenting the most diverse view of life."

Five must-see Glasgay! shows

DEEP RIMMING IN POPLAR Citizens Theatre (0141 429 0022)

NOV 2-13, 7.30pm, (pounds) 14 ((pounds) 6) Likely to be a big draw of the festival - and not just because it's got one of the most compelling titles ever tagged to a piece of theatre - Tim Fountain's new play receives its world premiere at Glasgay! and stars Bette Bourne as an ageing gay man with a new computer. His confusion by the high-speed, heartless world of internet dating is as likely to produce poignancy as comedy. Bourne's work has been reflecting such changes in perspectives and expectations since the mid-Seventies, and his last show with Fountain, Resident Alien, cast new light on the broad, generous world-view of Quentin Crisp.