'Doctor Who' Showrunner Russell T Davies Calls For The "Gay Community" To Revolt In "Terror And Anger And Action"
Russell T Davies, the showrunner for BBC’s most recent Doctor Who series, called for the “gay community” to revolt in “terror and anger and action.”
In an interview with Big Issue, Davies said, “When Queer As Folk came out in 1999, if you’d said: ‘What will gay rights be like in 2025?’, we’d have said, ‘Oh, it will all be marvelous – it’ll be sunshine and skipping down the street, hand in hand – gays, queers, lesbians, everyone.’ And look at where we are. Things got better but now things are rapidly and urgently getting worse.”
“What happens in America always happens here (the UK) – and as we look down the barrel of a Reform government, we, the gay community, queer community, should be revolting in terror and anger and action,” he declared. “They’re out to get us. The President of America is literally out to get us, is discounting us. He would be happier with us invisible and gone, defunded, completely invisible if not biologically altered to become as straight as him.”
Davies then reiterated, “I hope they’re prepared to fight, that younger generation that has no idea how they got there. And neither should they – they’re busy living their lives. I didn’t spend my youth looking back at World War Two, but I do think: ‘Are you prepared to fight, because a fight is coming?’”
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Davies made similar comments back in June 2024 during an appearance at a BAFTA’s A Life In Pictures: Russell T Davies, “Ten years ago, or even [when we did] Queer as Folk 25 years ago, we were on the up, it was like, ‘Good times are here.’ Now they’re absolutely not. That wave coming from America where they’re trying to have legislation banning drag queens… that’s absolutely going to come here.”
“I think our rights are paper thin,” he continued. “The world is becoming unsafe, so I will always keep writing about that, I will always keep writing about male gay-ness, if people will have me!”
The showrunner had also made clear it was his job to push transgender and queer stories telling Deadline, “I know I was part of a rising tide of gay, lesbian, and other writers, all of us contributing to the soaps and chipping into primetime dramas, all of us slowly and then rapidly, increasing the visibility of queer characters on screen. And I’m lucky that I was one that burst through and got that onscreen.”
He continued, “I’m always aware, especially as time marches on, that I carry this legacy of being white, male and gay. And it’s my job to look beyond that because there’s no point in sitting still. I have to look at myself and be certain that I’ve moved on. I look to society and try to listen to what’s going on and open gateways.”
Davies then declared, “When you become a senior figure in television, it’s your job to open doors and let the next people through and to let trans and queer stories through and to become familiar with this language myself instead of settling into middle age.”
What do you make of Davies’ comments?
"He would be happier with us invisible and gone, defunded, completely invisible"
Yes. Yes, this is indeed what would make us all happier.
As a member of the "gay community" (I don't act on it), I am fine with standing in the breach to protect society from what comes after gay marriage. It has been horrifying beyond anything I ever imagined. I'd be happy to return to a more sensible time where marriage is between one man and one woman. States could forge civil unions if they wanted to; they don't need to be called "marriages." Trendy straights could get unioned to their partners to show their semantic sympathies if they wished.