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The reverse tends to be true in his society; at one point
he is beaten up merely for his association with Denise.
This fits in with Jonathan Dollimore’s suggestion that,
“homosexuality is so strangely integral to the selfsame
heterosexual cultures which denounce it” (Dollimore,
Sexual Dissidence, 1991). After all, where would the
Hardman be without the gay man? In much of Scottish
society, as in Scottish literature, the Hardman, or even
just the heterosexual man, feels constantly obliged to
strive against being mistaken for a poof.
It is a woman, Olly, who actually vocalises homophobic
sentiments. To her, Denise is a “fuckin sick queer,”
or a ‘sick poof.” Unlike Brian, she fears being damned
by association, “I’m no fuckin fag hag.” Naturally,
Brian springs to Denise’s defence, “he’s my friend …
stop aw this homophobic shite: it’s a total drag.” This
is rather ironic given Brian’s attitude to women, for
example, “the main reason I was here was that it was
full of fanny and I hadn’t had a shag in five months.”
One final positive characteristic of Brian, rare in
Scottish literary males, is his ability to indulge in homosocial
activity without the traditional angst. Schoene
has commented on the phenomenon displayed by, but
by no means limited to, Alan Sharp’s male characters:
“The fear of being mistaken for a ‘queer’ is so great
that the manly courage of angry young men dwindles
drastically when they come to realise the ‘dubious’
intensity of their own emotional attachment to other
BUY Irvine Welsh books online from and
men … natural enthusiasm for homosocial contacts …
might be interpreted as the expression of a latent …
homosexual desire.” (Schoene in Whyte ed., 1995)
Brian does not suffer from such insecurities about
his own sexuality. On a night out with Penman, apparently
a gay man, he explains, “I’d never felt so close
to anyone, well, not another man, as I did to Penman
that night. It was a lovers-without-the-shagging type
scene.” Then, after meeting ex-lover Olly, “I went
over and held Penman in my arms for a long time.”
However, just as we become excited and let ourselves
believe that Brian might be about to jump out of the
closet we remember that he is, at this time, under the
influence of ecstasy. It seems that in a drug altered state
intimate male bonding is more acceptable, and feelings
can be acknowledged more readily.
Mark Renton in Trainspotting, perhaps Welsh’s most
(in)famous creation, is not dissimilar in attitude to Brian,
as is particularly apparent in the ‘London Crawling’
section of the book. Chris Whyte says of this novel, “in
a faithfulness to older paradigms which verges on the
touching, Welsh’s only acknowledged gay character is
a double outsider, an Italian immigrant encountered in
London.” This is undeniable (with the exception of two
lesbians who are introduced in ‘Feeling Free’), but again
we can argue that it is Renton’s attitude towards Giovanni
which is revealing. In fact, he is surprisingly benign –
given that Giovanni first of all makes a pass at him in
548
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