Peter Tatchell's Blog

The Kuala Lumpur regime will be delighted that the focus is on the 1975, rather than the human rights abuses the band condemned

Matty Healy of the 1975 pop group is being condemned by critics for having a “white saviour complex” and seeking to impose “western” values on Malaysia. The accusation comes after he used his recent Kuala Lumpur concert to denounce the country’s harsh anti-LGBTQ+ laws. But he got roars of approval from the crowd. They clearly agreed with what he said.

And while some Malay...

I suffered vile homophobia and more than 100 assaults before the poll, 40 years ago. But I also learned the value of grassroot politics

The 1983 Bermondsey byelection took place 40 years ago today and was a key moment in modern British political history. It’s widely regarded as one of the dirtiest and most violent elections in 20th-century Britain.

As a leftwing gay Labour candidate, I was subjected to more than 100 assaults while canvassing. There were also nearly three dozen attacks on my flat, ...

I was asked to join the Queen’s pageant as a ‘national treasure’, but I won’t take part in this public relations exercise

As a lifelong republican and a thorn in the side of the establishment, I was gobsmacked to receive a letter from the organisers of the Queen’s platinum jubilee pageant inviting me to join the finale on 5 June outside Buckingham Palace, as one of a select group of “National Treasures … celebrated, respected and admired people”.

What, me? Surely some mistake. As a supporter of th...

A damning new documentary shows families are still seeking answers about the serial killer’s victims, many of whom were gay

The murders of four young gay men in 2014 and 2015 by the serial killer Stephen Port were nothing new. Nor, sadly, was the catalogue of police failings that followed. The murder of “queers” has been going on for decades, with investigations repeatedly marred by toxic incompetence, negligence, indifference and homophobia.

The mishandling of the Dennis Nilsen investigation is r...

After the shameful investigation into the Stephen Port’s killing of gay men, it is time to take a stand

LGBTQ+ trust and confidence in the police has been hammered by the inquest verdict on the serial killings committed by Stephen Port. It found that police errors “probably” contributed to the deaths of three young gay men.

Within the LGBTQ+ community there is shock, anger and a sense of betrayal by the Metropolitan police, especially given the evidence of homophobic responses by some officers inv...

Peter Tatchell has protested against everyone from Mike Tyson to Tony Blair. So what did the human rights campaigner make of the documentary Hating Peter Tatchell?

The title of Hating Peter Tatchell was the brainchild of its director, Christopher Amos. When, in 2015, he first became interested in making a documentary about my 54 years of LGBTQ+ and other human rights activism, he was taken aback by the volume and ferocity of hatred against me.

So far I’ve been violently assaulted over 300 times, h...

Fifty years after Stonewall, the LGBT+ movement has abandoned its dream of sexual democracy

LGBT+ people worldwide are gearing up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the June 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to the formation of the modern LGBT+ movement. More significant than the riots themselves was what they ignited: the formation of the Gay Liberation Front in New York.

GLF inspired thousands to come out and join protests for LGBT+ rights. It organised the first Pride march, which took place...

Ukrainians look set to elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and actor with no political experience, as their new president on Sunday. Andrew Roth discusses the events that have taken him to the brink of power. Plus: Peter Tatchell on why the British police should not be providing leadership training to officers in Brunei

A comedian who plays a president on TV is the favourite to become Ukraine’s actual president when citizens go to the polls on Sunday. Despite the fact Volodymyr Zelenskiy has...

Across five decades the American psychiatrist and lawyer Richard Green, who has died aged 82, contributed to landmark achievements for gay and trans rights, risking his reputation and career to advance the understanding and acceptance of sexual and gender minorities.

In 1962 the US immigration service had moved to deport a Nicaraguan man, Chester Morales, on account of his homosexuality – despite the fact tha...

Since 1972, Pride’s joyful form of protest has become a liberating force. This year we stand with persecuted Russian LGBT+ people

London’s celebration of LGBT+ Pride this weekend is one of thousands of Pride celebrations taking place over the summer months in nearly every country on Earth.

In less than five decades, what began in a handful of western cities has become an unprecedented global phenomenon. Today, the LGBT+ movement is the most unifying, ubiquitous and universal movement there has...