416: Queer Bashing

Private Eye, 27 March 1970
Colin Wheeler

The phrase “queer bashing” was introduced into popular English usage at the end of 1969, when the trial at the Old Bailey over the murder of Michael de Gruchy on Wimbledon Common by a gang of teenagers suddenly gave the phrase contemporary currency. Mention of “Queer bashing” becomes used more and more common through 1970 until it rolls naturally off the tongue. As this cartoon appears in March 1970, Colin Wheeler has been fairly quick off the mark in picking up on this new phrase. In the light of all the late 60s jokes about hippies campaigning for peace being “long-haired faggots”, here you have one about it being more natural to beat up homosexuals than campaign for peace, a joke at the expense of the thuggish dad’s expectations.