Sir Alec Guiness Gave Sir Ian McKellan Bad Advice (But For a Good Reason)
In a recent interview with The Guardian, McKellan revealed that Alec Guinness once advised him not to get too openly involved with advocating for gay rights. According to McKellan, he was recently reminded about this advice from the Obi-Wan Kenobi actor after watching the touring play Two Halves of Guinness, a solo show that stars Zeb Soanes as Guinness. McKellen said that it “hints at Sir Alec’s latent bisexuality in a way that would have upset him, I suppose.”
One X user pointed out that there is a reason for this advice, and that it doesn’t come from a place of hate: “To be clear, this isn’t a story of Alec Guinness being homophobic. Alec Guinness was bisexual and was arrested for cruising when he was younger. This is a very sad story of how queer people had to hide themselves and assimilate into a deeply homophobic industry.”
McKellen publicly came out as gay in 1988 at 48 years old during a radio interview on BBC.
Fearless pioneers like McKellan are important
Of the conversation, he said, “[Guinness] took me for an Italian lunch in Pimlico, where we chatted about this and that until he brought up the real reason for his invitation. He had heard about my work to establish Stonewall–a lobby group to present to the government and the world at large the case for treating U.K. lesbians and gays equally under the law with the rest of the population. He thought it somewhat unseemly for an actor to dabble in public or political affairs and advised me, sort of pleaded with me, to withdraw. Advice from an older generation, which I didn’t follow.”
McKellan’s willingness to do what we considered right and not cow to fear is commendable. Younger people sometimes don’t realize how dangerous it was back then for anybody who was queer. The best thing to do for your own preservation was hide. It is thanks to people like McKellan that we are able to be as free as we are now.
Formed in 1989, Stonewall was the result of political activists campaigning against Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988. Since then, they have successfully repealed Section 28, ended the ban on LGBT people in the armed forces, extended adoption and IVF rights to same-sex couples, and introduced civil partnerships.
For every person like McKellan, there are two more like Guinness. Shame doesn’t always come from a place of hate: Many times, it also comes from a place of fear.
(Featured image: 20th Century Studios)
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