On Saturday 24 May, police forcibly ejected human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell from the Birmingham Pride parade. Cops threatened him with arrest for carrying a placard and using a loudhailer to criticise past police homophobia and call for a police apology.
West Midlands Police: a hotbed of homophobia, says Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell was at Birmingham Pride to call out the past homophobia of the West Midlands Police. The force arrested thousands of LGBTQ+ people in anti-gay witch-hunts between the 1950s and 2003.
As he explained:
The Chief Constable of West Midlands, Craig Guildford, has repeatedly refused to say sorry for his force’s past ill-treatment of the LGBT+ community.
Guildford chickened out of marching in Birmingham Pride when he heard there were going to be protests. For years, he has declined all offers of dialogue and has failed to discuss our concerns.
In the 1970s and 80s, West Midlands officers arrested thousands of gay and bisexual men for consenting, victimless behaviour. They were one of the most viciously homophobic police forces in the country, with arrest figures way above the national average.
West Midlands police arrested same-sex couples for kissing, raided gay bars and private birthday parties, abused LGBTs as queers, poofs and benders and assaulted people who questioned their illegality and homophobia. They outed LGBTs to the press, who then published their names and addresses. This resulted in some of these men being beaten up in the street and having their homes and cars smashed up. At least two men attempted suicide as a result.
Tatchell continued:
West Midlands police apologised in 2020 to the black community for its history of racism. Why are they refusing to say sorry to the LGBT+ community for similar abuses? This smacks of homophobic double standards.
Upon conviction, gay men were often jailed and beaten up in prison. Others were hit with huge fines. Many lost their jobs, homes and marriages. Some were bashed by homophobic mobs, driven to mental breakdowns and even attempted suicide. With the stigma of a criminal conviction for a homosexual offence, a lot of the victims of police homophobia had great difficulty in getting jobs and housing. Their lives were ruined by the police.
Pride is a protest: not with repressive police presence
Peter Tatchell carried a placard placard reading:
West Midlands police refuse to apologise for anti-LGBT+ witch-hunts. SHAME! #ApologiseNow
Police at the Pride parade responded to Tatchell’s demand for an apology by trying to silence him. They forcefully removed him from the parade:
Speaking on West Midland Police’s repressive retaliation to his acts of protest during Birmingham Pride, Tatchell said:
When I challenged them, the police said the Pride organisers told them I was not authorised to march in the Pride and had ordered the police to remove me. That is a shocking false claim. The Pride CEO, Lawrence Barton, authorised me to march in the parade and never gave the police any instructions to remove me. Mr Barton later told me he was appalled by the police behaviour.
The police clearly removed me because they objected to my criticism of their past homophobia.
This is another example of police abusing their powers to crack down on peaceful protest. Once again freedom of speech and the right to protest has been unlawfully eroded.
The officers involved must face disciplinary action. I want a public apology from the Chief Constable for the police fabricating reasons and forcibly removing me from the parade.
He helped organise the UK’s first Pride March in 1972 – in London. He has been campaigning for human rights for over 58 years.
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