UNCLOSETING BRITAIN'S QUEER POLITICS

Has the word “Bisexual” been banned by the BBC?

This question was raised by Britain’s former ambassador to the United States, Sir Christopher Meyer, whilst being interviewed on Radio 4’s Today Programme a few weeks ago. The subject was Russian spies, and Sir Christopher disclosed that both female and male Russian agents had been sent to tempt him during his days as a diplomat. During this disclosure, the word “bi-sexual” came out and Sir Christopher asked if he could say that on the BBC. The interviewer sounded uncertain.

I mention this matter partly because of its relevance to the topical issue of British undercover police agents having affairs with, and sometimes even marrying, the people on whom their spying. The subject of bisexuality – although the word itself was not mentioned - also came up again on the Today Programme only this week when it was disclosed that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne’s new partner was previously in a lesbian relationship.

The fact is, of course, that the heterosexual/homosexual, or straight/gay if you prefer, dichotomy does not really exist. Many people find themselves somewhere between the two. However, the majority of these choose to repress their bisexuality because at the present time this is a social taboo area, as reflected in its more or less unmentionable status, outside sensationalist soaps, on Britain’s national public broadcasting network.

Nevertheless, much of the rest of the world still regards the British as a pretty queer lot, and for good reason, in my view. Social silence, to use an anthropological term, on the subject of bisexuality seems to me to reflect a much deeper discomfort with any kind of conceptual challenge where ambiguity plays an important role. In short, we British like simple ideas, and, to compensate psychologically for this – yes I do subscribe to some Freudian thinking – we go in for administrative complexity in a big way.

The BBC itself is a very good example of this, and so are the majority of our other national institutions. Many of these enjoyed what can only be described as a “golden age of administrative complexity” under the previous government, and the prime mover in all this was indeed the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, although Gordon Brown did his utmost equal his predecessor. Blair, I would suggest, is the archetypal repressed British queer, and Brown the lesser sort.

After all, what men in their right mind could have been seduced by their own Spin Doctors? This is why, yesterday, I expressed my gratitude for the resignation of Andy Coulson, whose presence at No 10 certainly set me wondering about David Cameron, especially with his public school boy background. Was this bit of rough to be our new Prime Minister’s undoing? The relationship with Deputy Nick Clegg is a different matter, because Coalition Government, if not yet politically endorsing bisexuality, has certainly brought Britain’s queer politics out of the closet.