Ian McKellen rose to prominence as an LGBTQ+ activist when he co-founded the influential gay rights organization Stonewall UK in 1989. Reflecting on his early advocacy in a recent interview, the X-Men star recounted how a fellow actor was not too fond of his support for the queer community.
During a BBC Radio interview, McKellen recalled how his life changed for the better almost overnight when he came out. He observed that his relationships with people and his entire approach to acting underwent a transformation. When asked about the worst advice he had ever received, the actor revealed in a recent interview with The Guardian that Star Wars star Alec Guinness had allegedly advised him to withdraw his support for Stonewall. The organization, founded by 14 activists, including McKellen, was aimed at challenging the United Kingdom's section 28 ban, which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities and in schools. The ban was repealed in Scotland in 2001 and in England and Wales in 2003.
McKellen recounted a 1979 performance of Martin Sherman's Bent, a drama that shed light on the ill-treatment of gays in Nazi labor camps. He mentioned how one of Britain's most respected actors, Alec Guinness, visited him backstage after the performance. "Alec Guinness sat rather primly in my dressing room, enthusing about the play before inviting me out to supper," McKellen told The Guardian. "I stupidly declined, but a decade later was given a second chance to meet up with the great man."
The Lord of the Rings star shared how Guinness "thought it somewhat unseemly" for McKellen to "dabble in public or political affairs." Guinness urged him to cease participating in Stonewall UK, which McKellen described as "advice from an older generation, which I didn’t follow."
McKellen said he recently recalled their conversation after watching a production of Two Halves of Guinness, which features Zeb Soanes as Guinness and "hints at Sir Alec's latent bisexuality in a way that would have upset him, I suppose."
Since coming out in 1988, McKellen has strongly supported LGBTQ+ social movements and organizations while being open about his own journey to be open and honest with his identity. "People who are not gay simply don't know how it damages you to be lying about what you are and ashamed of yourself," McKellen told Variety in 2023. "I was brought up at a time when it was illegal for me to have sex with a man. And that wasn't that long ago."
In the BBC Radio interview, McKellen emphasized that when he came out, "almost overnight everything in my life changed for the better - my relationships with people and my whole attitude toward acting changed."
