Zack Polanski enjoyed a cosy conversation with Iain Dale at the Edinburgh festival yesterday. They sounded and acted like old friends. Dale began by inviting Polanski to enlarge on his experiences growing up gay in Salford. His parents divorced when he was 11 and his wayward behaviour at school attracted a special monitoring regime, ‘full report,’ which obliged teachers to give a written assessment of his conduct after each lesson. As a teenager he was inspired by the Channel 4 series, ‘Queer As Folk,’ written by Russell T Davies. 

‘I realised I should be unapologetic about who I am. And there’s so much power in that,’ said Polanski. ‘To sum up,’ added Dale, ‘Davies gave you licence to be a slut.’

The gay rights issue still troubles Polanski and he fears that his community is under attack. ‘Trans rights are the canary in the coal mine,’ he said. ‘Unless we take a stand, trans rights are going to be rolled back.’ 

Dale challenged this and cited Ann Widdecombe’s change of heart. She opposed gay marriage but she didn’t support repealing the law after it had been passed. ‘You can’t give something to someone and then take it back,’ was her view. ‘And if Ann Widdecombe wouldn’t reverse it, who would?’ asked Dale.

Polanski warned that the present Labour government ‘is going to........

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