Words by Ian Perry
To celebrate LGBT+ history month, Maryhill Burgh Halls is reflecting on the progress of attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people in the surrounding area.
Glasgow, as a whole, was known for its social conservatism and strict religious views that were often strongly against LGBTQ+ people, relationships, behaviour, and expression. Two years following the opening of the halls, the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 made male same-sex sexual acts a criminal offence, which carried a two-year prison sentence. Nearly a century later, Scotland partially decriminalised homosexuality in 1980, however, attitudes generally take time to catch up. This is demonstrated succinctly in 80s pop outfit Bronksi Beat’s video to their hit Smalltown Boy:
falsetto gay singer Jimmy Somerville is seen on a train, looking out the window at a passing urban scene, reminiscing about something that saddens him - we see a flashback of him admiring a chiselled, muscled straight guy, at a local swimming pool - he is beaten up by the guy and his pals in an alley outside - the police pick him up and take him home - as the policemen explain the reason for Jimmy's bruised face, his mother sobs, his father shakes his head and fists in disapproval, whilst Jimmy shamefully bows his head in their drab living room, resulting in him being kicked out of the family home, being slipped some cash, before boarding a train (the one from the beginning) with his pals and running away to the more queer-friendly big city of London.
Somerville undoubtedly used the bigotry he experienced growing up in his hometown of Milton, another working-class area of Glasgow, as the subject matter for the song and video, which depicted the kind of prejudice which was common in Glasgow during the 1980s. Prejudice was amplified nationwide in 1988 when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government introduced anti-gay policy in the form of Section 28 (or known as clause 2A in Scotland). The clause stopped local authorities from “intentionally promoting homosexuality” in any publicly-owned building, which included museums, galleries and libraries.
During the 1990s, grassroots activist organisation Glasgow Women’s Library sprung up in Garnethill (now based in Bridgeton). They played a significant role - under the guise of The Lesbian Avengers - in actively repealing the clause. Despite opposition from “committed Christian” Stagecoach owner Brian Souter’s ‘Keep the Clause’ campaign, the clause was successfully repealed in 2000 in Scotland.
Photograph of the Glasgow Lesbian Avengers holding the made banner ‘We Recruit’ and protesting with other placard ‘We Object’ against Section 28. Part of GWL’s archive collection. © Author’s own.
LGBTQ+ inequalities were polarised in Glasgow at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) 2009 exhibition ‘sh[OUT]’. The exhibition had many pieces which stirred divisive debate and opinion; garnering a backlash from political and religious groups, and culminating in meetings between council members and the Archdiocese of Glasgow to censor the most controversial pieces. However, academics evaluating the exhibition found that it helped promote understanding of transgender and intersex equalities and rights, and they suggested this resulted in legislation like The Equality Act (2010) coming into effect.
Recently, Glasgow has seen a huge shift in attitudes and open-mindedness with regard to same-sex relationships and different gender expressions. A thriving LGBTQ+ nightlife and drag scene can be found all over the city; from big commercial venues Polo Lounge, AXM (formerly Bennett’s), and Delmonica’s, to new queer co-op venue Bonjour (opened in 2020, and formerly an old man’s pub), along with alternative, avant-guarde queer clubnights, such as Shoot Your Shot and Hot Mess. Maryhill itself has shown inclusivity by screening LGBTQ+ film favourites, such as John Waters’ Polyester, featuring drag legend Divine, at the Community Central Halls on Maryhill Road through Seaboard Neighbourhood Cinema in 2018. With Scottish Glasgow-based drag queen Lawrence Chaney being crowned the winner of the second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2021, who’s next to claim the prize? A drag queen called Mary Hill, perhaps!