George From Ireland - Reflections's video: Peter Tatchell: the UK s most tireless LGB campaigner

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=24139755 Paypal: georgecallaghan79@gmail.com Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/GeorgefromIrel1 Follow me on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/georgefromireland/ rights Mr Peter Tatchell was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He grew up in Australia's second city. His family was working class and they were Evangelical Christians. Like most people in those days Peter left school in his mid teens. He had been raised to detest homosexuals. In his mid teens he underwent a gay awakening. He also found himself amenable to left wing politics. Australia was then in the grip of McCarthyism. Australia sent soldiers to Vietnam to assist the United States there. Australia is the 8th largest country in the world and it had a population smaller than London. The government feared that the country was indefensible. If it were invaded by a communist nation then the country would be conquered very easily. Therefore the strategy was to be pally with Uncle Sam. Australia had conscription. Conscripts were deployed to Indochina. Peter was totally opposed to this. He felt it was an immoral and illogical policy. Canberra was battling to uphold a repressive dictatorship. Peter was spotted at an antiwar demonstration by his boss. He almost got to sack. He had to plead with his employer not to dismiss him. The Stonewall rebellion in the United States was extensively covered in the Aussie media. This gave Peter the self-assurance to come out to some people as gay. There were no positive gay role models for him. Homosexual acts were unlawful in almost every jurisdiction. But Peter knew that being gay was natural for some and had been around as long as there was recorded history. The Stonewall Rebellion occurred in New York City. Some gay men were mourning the death of Judy Garland a gay icon The New York Police Department came to harass and arrest them as the NYPD did routinely in those days. The homosexualists fought back. The police backed off. At 18 Peter took ship for the land of his forbears: the United Kingdom. He landed on Britain's shore with a view to avoiding compulsory military service. In those days Australians had the automatic right to settle and work in the UK. Almost every Australian was of British stock back then. Peter found gainful employment as a graphic designer. In time he enlisted in the GLF: the Gay Liberation Front. The GLF existed in the United States, Canada the UK and France. Even in some of the most liberal countries on earth the siutation of those with a same sex attraction was grim. Homosexual acts had been decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967. The age of consent was 21. Note that for Scotland and Northern Ireland the prohibition on sexual acts between males of all ages remained on the statute book. Mr Tatchell soon joined the Labour Party. He was on the first gay pride march in 1972. Gays were widely abominated. Being gay was a sacking offence. Many gays were deep in the closet. Homosexuality had been quietly tolerated in intellectual and theatrical circles. In 1983 Peter stood as a Labour candidate in Southwark and Bermondsey. This inner London proletarian constituency had been safe Labour territory. Tabloids published the fact that Peter was gay. That sunk him. He was defeated by Simon Hughes of the Social Democratic Party. It is a rich irony that years later it became clear that Mr Hughes was agy himself. After 1983 the main focus of Peter's activity was on gay issues. It was not until 1984 that an MP came out as gay. That was Chris Smith who was a Labour Mp for a London constituency. Same sex marriage seemed to be an abomination. iN 1989 Denmark allowed a same sex civil partnership. Even more contentiously it was between two priests in the Church of Denmark. In the 1990s gays were not allowed to serve in the British Armed Forces. No queen could wear the Queen's uniform! If someone had 20 years meritorious service behind him and he had won medals for valour he would be kicked out of the armed forces sans ceremonie if suspected of being gay. There were no second chances. Michael Portillo as Defence Secretary upheld this ban despite having been actively gay as an undergraduate at Cambridge. In 1999 Portillo campaigned to be elected in the Kensington and Chelsea by election. Gay activists went around with placards saying: Portillo sucks, Portillo bites the pillow, Portillo swallows semen, Portillo buggers soldiers, Portillo shafts sailors, Portillo fucks airmen, Portillo bangs the RAF ETC.... Nonetheless Portillo was elected Peter was notorious for outing. If someone was gay and wanted to keep it taciturn then that was fine by Peter. But if somone espoused anti gay policies and had been actively gay even once then Peter would expose this person and shame this person. That was a contentious policy. Peter wanted an equal age of consent with heterosexuals. That finally came to pass in the 2000