18 Oct 2013

Watch "Out There", Stephen Fry's global documentary on being gay and homophobia

English actor Stephen Fry has spent the last two years travelling the world, interviewing LGBT people and challenging those who radically oppose the acceptance – or even the existence  of LGBT people.



Stephen Fry (right) with Pastor Solomon Male of the Arising For Christ
Ministries who spoke very graphically about anal sex (22mins). Fry tells
him he never had anal sex and he and his partner prefer “fellatio
and mutual masturbation and intercrural sex such as the Greeks did.”

In the first of the 2-part documentary for BBC Two, Stephen reflects back on just how much has changed for gay people during his lifetime. He meets Elton John and David Furnish, the couple who inspired Stephen to be open about his sexuality as well as many others. This episode, Stephen travels to Uganda, where the government is considering a new law that would make homosexuality a capital crime - putting gay people to death for their sexuality.

Stephen meets the men and women targeted by this proposed law and finds out the impact it is already having on their lives. Stephen also travels to the USA to explore 'reparative therapy', which claims to offer a 'cure' for being gay. Whilst in the states, he looks at how Hollywood deals with the gay issue by talking to Neil Patrick Harris, an openly gay man who continues to land leading roles.

In the second part, Stephen visits Brazil, home to the largest gay pride celebration in the world and a place that has some of the best legislation on the planet for gay equality. But it has come at a price. All of the advances have brought about a violent backlash against gay people; on average, one gay person is murdered every 36 hours in Brazil. Stephen sees how this is impacting on the lives of gay men and women there and also confronts the politician leading the fight against gay rights.

Stephen also visits Russia, where gays are now worse off than they have been for a long time. Their rights are being constantly eroded by a conservative government, backed by the disapproval of the Russian Orthodox Church. Stephen then travels to India, where the old British laws that criminalised homosexuality have just been overturned. Modern India is now looking to Hindu traditions as it forges a more positive way forward for its gay citizens, including its once celebrated transgender community.

For interviews with Stephen Fry and director Fergus O'Brie, and related links, visit BBC Two: Stephen Fry: Out There.