Peter Tatchell barred from Pride

[marshlander]

If there is one person most people would recognise as a tireless campaigner for GLBT rights over many years it must be Peter Tatchell.

It's quite astonishing to have received a copy of this letter which states that he has been crossed off the guestlist at this year's London Pride!

Peter is a thorn in the side, not least to those who are quick to praise the Labour government on LGBT issues and slow to critique it. Last year he had a very public word with Harriet Harman at London Pride about LGBT asylum - 'why are we sending gays back to Iran?' This followed her being heckled as she spoke. Of course Harman made promises which were immediately forgotten about.

Most notable of those who don't like Tatchell are the gay establishment, those whom Labour have awarded gongs to. So it's unsurprising to learn that when Ten Downing Street hosts an event for Pride Month on Saturday morning Tatchell won't be there. Neither will he be at Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's soirée, according to Tatchell's tweet, despite being a patron!



Tatchell also says about another Downing Street event in March, held to dismiss the widely believed idea that Gordon doesn't like the gays, he was actively dismissed from the guest list.

An insider tipped me off that my name had been removed from the invite list, at Gordon Brown's personal request. He was apparently still angry that I had heckled him over his government's erosion of civil liberties, when he opened the Taking Liberties exhibition at the British Library late last year.
You could imagine that those invited into the golden circle are not exactly likely to say 'I'm not coming if Tatchell's not there' given that Peter says they're "tame apologists for Labour". And that is precisely what is happening.

Not that Tatchell gives a shit:


I don't do my human rights work to win awards, honours or invites. It doesn't matter to me that I haven't been invited.

What angers me is the principle - the way the Prime Minister invites and fetes mostly tame pro-Labour loyalists in the LGBT community. It is a manipulative tactic by an insecure government that knows its record on LGBT human rights is not as glorious as it claims.


And if the evidence of the Mayor's non-invitation is anything to go by "mostly tame pro-Labour loyalists in the LGBT community" deliberately exclude him precisely because he just so damned awkward.

Let's hear it for the awkward squad

[fredv3b]

What angers me is the principle - the way the Prime Minister invites and fetes mostly tame pro-Labour loyalists in the LGBT community. It is a manipulative tactic by an insecure government that knows its record on LGBT human rights is not as glorious as it claims.

What does he expect? The PM to fête his critics? I cannot claim that Tatchell has been anything other than a tireless campaigner for gay rights. However he has removed himself from the realities of mainstream democratic politics, and joined the Green Party who due to their tiny nature will be be able to do the grand total of almost nothing for gay/human rights. If he is a thorn in people's side then he shouldn't be surprised to be sidelined.