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Did homosexuality really imperil British Intelligence this much? Spoilers!

posted 4 years ago by mobocracy (894)
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It's not clear that Hayden's homosexuality (or rather, bisexuality) was used against him, but it certainly provided him a means of intimate connection with Prideaux which he was able to leverage, and of course it led to Prideaux's downfall.

Guillam was mostly coerced into ending his relationship by Smiley as a prophylactic against compromise, so he wasn't negatively impacted, although in retrospect I kind of expected Smiley to know Guilliam was a homosexual and perhaps Guilliam to suggest that homosexual relationship were an unconsidered connection between Hayden and Prideaux.

Obviously none of this is an issue if society isn't anti-homosexual as there's no leverage to gain from exposure. It is kind of interesting that homosexuals were able to advance so far into British Intelligence given that it's an extortion risk.

[–] Who (5146) 4 years ago

This story starts in 1973, just six years after homosexuality was no longer criminalized in the UK. So this generation of spies was recruited during the prior years of closeted homosexuality. Perhaps more gays were recruited into intelligence during this time because they were ready to accept a rather solitary lifestyle full of secrets, foreign postings, dangers, and deceptions. It isn’t a good fit for people with spouses and kids, as we see with George’s troubled marriage. But it might be an option for young bright gay college grads looking to escape the societal conventions of marriage, house, kids.

I got the impression the Circus didn’t care about the agent’s sexual preferences. Hayden casually asks George to pay off some young male lover. George seems to know what he is hinting at when he warns Peter. Maybe the extortion risk was not to “out” Peter, but to threaten to “out” his partner to his colleagues or family. Peter may have broken up with his partner to save him from being used as a pawn to trade for Rikki’s whereabouts. Just guessing as I haven’t read the book and the film is characteristically foggy on details.

[–] mobocracy (894) 4 years ago

I can buy into the idea that closeted homosexuals were probably great at the foreign intelligence game. Social deception is an ingrained habit, as is detecting subtle hints of alternate/hidden motivations in strangers.

Even better is the identification of homosexuals among the opponent and possibly even using an agent's own homosexuality as a means of entrapping a foreign agent directly. Of course this might drive more than a little cognitive dissonance to be a homosexual using homosexuality's illicit/forbidden nature against fellow homosexuals, in addition to the risk that lust and love might override national security.

[–] Redsfan001 (6158) 4 years ago

I believe I read the CIA and other highly classified intelligence agencies filtered out homosexuals back in the 50's-80's for fear of being at a risk of blackmail.