Peter Tatchell to speak at Northern Pride in Newcastle upon Tyne
Peter Tatchell is speaking at Northern Pride, North East England's biggest gay pride, this Saturday, July 17. He has issued the following statement in advance of his speech.
A message from Peter Tatchell, LGBT human rights campaigner
“I am proud to support Northern Pride 2010. I'll be there and I hope you will join me in Newcastle on 17 July.
"Celebrate your sexuality and the LGBT rights we have won. But also remember that the battle for LGBT equality is not yet over.
“2010 is the fortieth anniversary of the formation of the Gay Liberation Front in Britain. With its revolutionary slogan, “Gay is Good,” GLF turned the homophobia of centuries on its head and motivated thousands of LGBT people to come out for the first time.
“Defiant and proud, GLF ended the victim mentality and challenged the values, laws and institutions of heterosexist society. It initiated the idea of Gay Pride and coordinated the UK’s first Gay Pride march, which was held in London in July 1972.
"Since the 1970s, the LGBT community has made great strides towards equality, but we have not yet won equal treatment.
“There is still a ban on same-sex marriage. Civil partnerships are not equality. They are a form of sexual apartheid, with different laws for gay and straight people. I am against the ban on same-sex couples getting married and I am equally opposed to the way heterosexual couples are barred from having a civil partnership. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
“Gay and bisexual men are prohibited from donating blood, even if they always practice safe sex and have tested HIV-negative.
“Successive Home Secretaries have given visas and work permits to reggae singers who incite the murder of gay people, despite such incitements being serious criminal offences.
“The government’s many commendable LGBT law reforms are no excuse for its stonewalling on the abolition of these remaining aspects of homophobic discrimination.
“We won’t stop campaigning until we win full respect, acceptance, dignity and human rights,” said Mr Tatchell.
ENDS
Notes to editors
To request an interview with Peter Tatchell, please contact Jane Byrne at The Communications Cooperative on 07794 290 176 or email: jane@thecommunicationscooperative.co.uk
Pride events celebrate the LGBT community and commemorate their struggle for equal rights. The first Pride events were held in the USA in 1970 and they now take place all over the world.
2010 will be the third Northern Pride; the first took place in 2008.
Northern Pride is organised by Northern Pride Events Limited a not-for-profit community interest company whose senior management committee comprises of members of the local LGBT Communities.
Northern Pride is sponsored by NHS Northeast, Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council, Your Homes Newcastle (YHN), Gentoo, Gateshead Housing Company, Unison, Unite the Union, ARCH, Mesmac, NASUWT, FBU and Fat Boy Leisure.
Jane Byrne
07794 290 176
jane@thecommunicationscooperative.co.uk
thecommunicationscooperative.co.uk
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