S1E9&10: Peter Tatchell

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Fearless human rights and LGBTQ+ rights campaigner, prominent member of the Gay Liberation Front and co-founder of direct action group, Outrage!

We sit down with Peter for two episodes. Starting in 1960s Melbourne and the impossible choice between prison and the Vietnam war, which ultimately saw him move to London. On his second day in the UK he discovered the Gay Liberation Front, a movement that aimed to achieve cultural change, challenging the church, media, police and education.

Peter walks us through the first London Pride in 1972 and the challenges faced by the GLF as its flame dimmed. Peter reflects on the personal costs of taking action, including arrests, assaults, PTSD and the fuel that keeps him going: love of people, freedom, equality and justice.

 In our second episode, we trace the founding of OutRage!, explore the chilling effect of Section 28 and the culture-war that shaped a generation. Peter breaks down why media moments mattered and shocked the evening news, unpacks the campaigns that equalised the age of consent, and the many years of work that helped to unlock the UK’s immense progress on LGBTQ+ rights from 1999–2013. 

Peter explains why legal change is not the finishing line, pushing us into the harder terrain of culture, music, religion and sport. 

Peter offers a clear warning about backsliding. Progress can vanish quickly, as Berlin’s queer golden age did in the 1930s, highlighting that the price of freedom is vigilance. 

These episodes were hosted by Jonathan Chambers and James Alexander

Editing by Hannah Stewart

Music: Mystify created by AlterEgo