On the day that the equal marriage bill passed through parliament in July 2013, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi were filming their ribald sitcom, Vicious, on London’s South Bank.
News came through as the two bickered their way through another scene as a couple of theatrical old queens, lovers for whom marriage was never an option, unless entered into against their nature.
After filming ended, McKellen made an impromptu speech to the live audience about the importance of this historic equality victory.
Here were two prominent figures who knew exactly the significance of the changes in law.
Less than a decade earlier, Boris Johnson had claimed in his Daily Telegraph column that the right of two men to marry was equivalent to a pet owner marrying their dog.
Some corners of the media genuinely believed gay marriage would precipitate the collapse of decent civilisation.
All British Christian faiths, and most others, to be fair, are still entirely tin-eared on the subject.
Some members of the LGBT+ community believed gay marriage was the ultimate heteronormative assimilation and resignation to an already busted institution.
Yet, as McKellen got on bended knee, and popped the question to his fellow star, in character — Jacobi whisking away the proposal with a quick “I do,” — it was hard not to feel the groundswell of public support for this groundbreaking legislation.
There was literally not a dry eye in the house.
Gay marriage has turned into a singular success. Nobody talks about it anymore, as often happens when a wrong is righted.
When it came down to it, who was really going to object to Clare Balding and Alice Arnold, Sir Elton John and David Furnish and Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black slipping a ring on it and notifying Hello! photographers? These people hadn’t just earned their place in the establishment — they had defined it.
Making life less complicated for minorities has benefits for everyone. We stop moaning about the unfairness of it all, for one. And — forgive me the cliché, but it only works because it’s true — we make fabulous party hosts.
So crack open the champagne and let us share a cautious clink. This one seismic change is something to be celebrated.
