I remember when Michael Cashman, now an MEP, was the first chairman of the lobby group Stonewall. He said that gays would have full equality in ten years. It sounded hopelessly optimistic, but he wasn’t far off the mark. I didn’t know anything about the original “Stonewall” until we were setting up the group. It might as well have been a cricketing term.

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which began on June 27, 1969 in reaction to a police raid on the gay Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village. It became a defining moment in gay history.

Stonewall, the organisation we named after the riots, came 20 years later and was similarly rooted in anger — this time at Section 28, the clause in the Local Government Bill that outlawed the “promotion” of homosexuality. Tristan Garel-Jones, one of the Tory whips, told me it was “a piece of red meat thrown to right-wing voters”. He said I had to advise governments and make sure nothing like it ever happened again — and he had guided it through the Commons!

There were, of course, gay activists such as Peter Tatchell and groups such as Outrage around at the time, but no one was knocking on the doors of ministers and politicians; that’s what Stonewall would do, we thought. We were accused of being non-democratic, of being run by privileged people and of being London-based and so insensitive to the needs of people elsewhere. The film director Derek Jarman was particularly critical, though before his death he sent me a message accepting that he had been wrong and he could see that we were beginning to achieve something.

John Major, then the Prime Minister, came to see me in a play. I met him afterwards and invited myself to 10 Downing Street to talk about gay rights. He was sympathetic but there was no real incentive for him for gay law reform.

My going there, though, changed the atmosphere, it bought equality on to the agenda. I was attacked for it: people said, “Who does he represent?”. But I went in with a brief to talk about an equal age of consent, the ban on gays in the military, and Section 28.

While Major made no promises, when I met Tony Blair when he was leader of the Opposition he was much more responsive, and in power Labour delivered on its commitments. Not all Labour MPs were on Blair’s side. Austin Mitchell put his head in his hands at one vote and later said, “You’re going to hate me for what I’ve done”. But soon those defending the discriminatory status quo started to seem like the extremists.

I didn’t think of myself as the leader of anything. I was well known but there were others who did the work. I accepted the knighthood (in 1991) because I knew that it would help to get doors open. I never felt that being known as gay, or campaigning for gay rights, was limiting. There is a tradition in British theatre of actors such as Dame Sybil Thorndike and Vanessa Redgrave campaigning for social change.

For me, coming out made me unburdened and more self-confident. It made me a better actor. It opened me up emotionally. It’s amazing that it’s an experience that people who you’ll never meet, in places in the world you’ll never go to, can relate to. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.

I didn’t come out until I was 49. I had been living a pretty open life, and everyone knew apart from close family. Before I came out, if a newspaper asked me about getting married, I’d say that I hadn’t met the right person yet. But Section 28 changed me. That’s when I made the connection between the personal and the political.

I’m not a brave radical, though, like Peter Tatchell or Derek Jarman. I’d been in Bent (the gays-in-concentration-camp play by Martin Sherman), and I would say things like, “it’s not about gay rights, it’s about human rights” if I was asked. My co-star, Simon Callow, was out from the start, but they didn’t print it about him; back then there was a weird censorship around even mentioning it. He had to write a book about it to come out properly.

Section 28 made gay people second class and it felt right to stand up and say so, to say: “I’m not ashamed”. I feel the same way today: come out, it’s got to be done. The legal situation is better now but there is still a hangover from Section 28 in schools. Gay issues are not discussed. Gay kids and teachers feel isolated. That’s why I go to schools — faith, comprehensive and private — to talk. And think about it, more and more of the parents who are sending their children to schools are gay themselves. They are not “pretend” families, as Section 28 called them.

I think there should be full equality, full marriage rather than partnership rights. It’s only a matter of time, and the Church and whoever objects should just stop worrying about it. It’s not the end of civilisation. When The Times carried the first civil partnership announcement alongside all the other straight announcements, it was a great day: The Times understood that they were equal.

There is still a lot to do in this country: we have to address attitudes and the rise in casual homophobia, the young people getting abused, even killed, for being gay. I wish that a major sportsman or woman would come out, that would make a huge difference. We need more role models in the public eye, and I know that some of those people are fearful about how people would perceive them if they came out.

Gay actors tell me that they’re worried about how the audience will perceive them, but that’s just nonsense. The audience would just perceive them in character — and I should know. And if there are people in the audience who don’t like me simply because I am gay, well I don’t want them as part of my audience. Hollywood is still scared of gay characters and projects because of conservative advertisers. I’ve no sympathy with it, but no one has ever looked to Hollywood for pioneering social advances — it’s a fantasy factory.

I shall carry on with Stonewall, campaigning for as long as I can be of use. I like going to schools. I’m a respectable Shakespearean actor who’s done a few films that young people like so it’s OK for them to like me. Everyone should feel that they have the right and opportunity to live openly.

www.stonewall.org.uk

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