Ian McKellen

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, KBE (born May 25, 1939) is a highly acclaimed British actor on both stage and screen, regarded by many as the greatest living British actor. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. For over a decade he has lived in a five-storey Victorian conversion in Narrow Street, Limehouse, London.

Work for gay rights

While McKellen was always out to his co-actors, his public persona was another matter. It was not until 1988 that he came out to the general public. A controversial amendment was under consideration in the United Kingdom Parliament: Section 28 of the Local Government Bill proposed to prohibit local authorities from promoting homosexuality 'as a kind of pretended family relationship'. The drafting was open to several interpretations and the actual impact of the amendment was uncertain. McKellen became active in fighting the proposed law, and declared himself gay in a debate with the conservative journalist Peregrine Worsthorne which was aired by the BBC. "My own participating in that campaign was a focus for people take comfort that if Ian McKellen was on board for this, perhaps it would be all right for other people to be as well, gay and straight," he said. Section 28 was, however, enacted and remained on the statute books until 2003. McKellen continued to fight for its repeal and criticised British Prime Minister Tony Blair for failing to concern himself with the issue.

Related Topics:
1988 - United Kingdom - Parliament - Section 28 - Peregrine Worsthorne - BBC - British Prime Minister - Tony Blair

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By the time he came out, McKellen's ten-year relationship with Mathias had also ended. He has stated that being free of the additional concern of what effect his coming out would have on his partner's career made the choice easier, as did the advice and support of his friends, among them noted gay author Armistead Maupin.

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In 1994, he made a bit of a splash at the closing ceremony of the Gay Games, where he stood before a crowd of gay athletes and their supporters and fans to say, "I'm Sir Ian McKellen, but you can call me Serena." (This nickname had been circulating within the gay community since McKellen's knighthood was conferred).

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McKellen has continued up to the present to be very active in gay rights efforts. He is a co-founder of Stonewall, a gay rights lobby group in the United Kingdom. The group is named after the Stonewall riots.

Related Topics:
Gay rights - Stonewall - Stonewall riots

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