Long-term Achievement Award

Peter Tatchell

‘Peter is the original thorn the side of the establishment. He does not campaign politely, he campaigns passionately. He has created space for others to live openly and proudly, and has made the previously unthinkable possible. Successful campaigning needs a whole host of ingredients – but Peter always brings the rocket fuel.’

Sue Tibballs, SMK Chief Executive

Campaigning background

Peter Tatchell has been described as ‘the bravest man in Britain’ or, if the recent Netflix documentary is anything to go by, an easy target for the haters. One thing is certain, he is hard to ignore. His formidable track record of campaigning, activism, and dramatic action has contributed to an impressive array of achievements, but they have sometimes come at great personal cost. Undeterred, he fights on.

He has campaigned for human rights for over 50 years. Although best known for his work on LGBT+ rights, he also campaigns on issues of democracy, civil liberties, social equality, environmental protection, animal rights, peace, and global justice.

He first took a stand in 1967, aged 15, against the death penalty and for Aboriginal rights in his homeland of Australia. From 1971, he was a leading activist in the Gay Liberation Front in London. Two years later, he staged the first LGBT+ rights protest in a communist country, East Germany, which resulted in his detention and interrogation by the Stasi.

He stood as a candidate in the Bermondsey by-election in 1983, at a time when not a single one of the UK’s 650 MPs was publicly gay. What followed has been described as ‘the most vicious parliamentary election in London’s history’, during which he was subject to violence and homophobia.

Peter co-founded the gay, lesbian and bisexual rights direct action group OutRage!, which described itself as ‘a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and civil disobedience’. In 1994, Outrage! ‘outed’ 10 Anglican bishops, accusing them of hypocrisy for publicly endorsing the church’s homophobic stance. Four years later, he interrupted the Easter Sermon of the Archbishop of Canterbury in protest at Dr Carey’s support for laws that discriminated against lesbian and gay people.

In 1999, his attempted citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, on charges of torture, led to his own arrest. Undeterred, he repeated the attempt in Brussels in 2001, which resulted in him being beaten unconscious by Mugabe’s bodyguards and left him with permanent minor brain injuries.

Two years later, he ambushed and halted Tony Blair’s motorcade in protest at the Iraq war. He was assaulted by neo-Nazis and arrested at the Moscow Gay Pride parade in 2007.
Peter’s work on environmental issues spans forty years. Back in the late 80s, he warned of the dangers of global warming, resource depletion, species extinction and environmental degradation.

Upcoming campaigns will coincide with the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the football World Cup in Qatar in November. Longer-term, he will continue working for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 69 countries where it is still a crime, including 35 Commonwealth nations.

Peter was voted the sixth greatest ‘Hero of our Time’ by readers of the New Statesman in 2006, the same year The Independent listed him as one of top 50 ‘Good’ people in Britain. In 2009, he won Campaigner of the Year at the Observer Ethical Awards.

make care work poster - a yellow background with yellow hand-drawn flowers and pink text saying ‘Make care work’ and ‘The Care Experienced Movement’ and their logo of an x in a c in pink at the bottom of the poster

2014: Birmingham Pride

I’m honoured and pay tribute to the many amazing campaigners I have worked with over the last five decades. I dedicate this award to the people of Ukraine and Syria who are heroically resisting Russian imperialist aggression.”

make care work poster - a yellow background with yellow hand-drawn flowers and pink text saying ‘Make care work’ and ‘The Care Experienced Movement’ and their logo of an x in a c in pink at the bottom of the poster

2014: Birmingham Pride

I’m honoured and pay tribute to the many amazing campaigners I have worked with over the last five decades. I dedicate this award to the people of Ukraine and Syria who are heroically resisting Russian imperialist aggression.”

More information

Peter is Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation: www.PeterTatchellFoundation.org

For more info about Peter’s human rights campaigns: www.petertatchell.net

To make a donation: https://www.petertatchell.net/help-fund-lgbt-other-human-rights-causes/

Peter’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TatchellPeter

A detailed biography is here: https://www.petertatchell.net/biography/