Peter Tatchell

It’s all too easy to refer to people as heroes or legends but not many people actually live up to the hyperbole. Peter Tatchell certainly does.

He was in town tonight as part of this year’s Writing on the Wall festival. This year’s festival theme is ‘Where Are We Now?’ and Peter was invited to give a speech on the state of LGBTQIA+ rights and lives across the globe, 50 years after the Stonewall Riots and the birth of the Gay Liberation movement – ‘Queer Are We Now?’. 

I doubt there is anyone better qualified or with such a broad yet detailed knowledge of human rights, and human rights abuses, throughout the world.

Now aged 67, Peter has spent his whole life campaigning for a better and more just world. As a child he campaigned for Aboriginal rights in his native Australia but he first came to my notice for the intense homophobic abuse he received when he stood in the Bermondsey by-election in 1983. Since then, I’ve been a great admirer of his work with OutRage and beyond, his undiminished commitment to drawing attention to injustice not only against LGBTQIA+ people but to all oppressed or under-represented people – frequently putting his own life in danger and spending time in police cells as a result – and his encouragement of others.

His attempts to arrest Robert Mugabe and his run-ins with the Russian police are just the tip of the iceberg.

He gave a fascinating speech which balanced the depressing with the uplifting; followed by a Q+A session, chaired by last year’s Homotopia festival guest curator, Cheryl Martin.

He was typically modest about his achievements and noted that individuals never bring about change – it is always the hard work and day-to-day activism of thousands of unsung, often unknown, people that chips away at the status quo and leads to progress. Indeed, he quoted Martin Luther King’s belief that “the arc of history bends towards justice” and said he still believes this to be the case. I hope he’s right!

Thanks to everyone for all your good wishes for a good start in my new job. I’m now halfway through my first week and my head’s spinning with it all – but I’m starting to settle in a bit… I think!

I’m working for Healthwatch Liverpool – the independent champion for health and social care service users in the city. My job title is Information and Projects Officer (Engagement) which potentially covers a lot of ground, but my initial remit will be to lead on issues relating to patient experience at Liverpool Women’s Hospital and to set up a new project looking at the city’s response to children with specific/special educational needs and/or disabilities – which is something I’m definitely very interested in for family reasons. No doubt I shall have more to report over the coming months…

Today’s tune is from the year after ‘that’ Bermondsey by-election, it’s Bronski Beat with ‘Smalltown Boy’ https://youtube.com/watch?v=88sARuFu-tc