Difference between revisions of "Peter Tatchell"

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Peter Gary Tatchell is a prominent British homosexual, gay rights and pedophile rights activist, who founded a group called Outrage that has campaigned since the 1980s for the reduction and ultimate abolition of all age-of-consent laws. He is known for his defence of the practise of pedophilia and his affiliation with the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE). He has for many years written a column in The Guardian, a left-wing newspaper.

Born in Melbourne Australia in 1952, Tatchell was the only child of working-class, evangelical Christian parents. However, he declares himself to be an atheist. His parents divorced when he was four. ^[1] He moved to UK in 1971 to avoid National Service in the Australian army, and immediately started working as a journalist campaigning for LGBT and pedophile rights. He joined the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), had close friendships with many members of P.I.E. and appeared on platforms with them. He wrote "GLF's main aim was never equality within the status quo. [...] GLF's strategy for queer emancipation was to change society's values and norms" ^[2]

Connections with Pedophilia

In 1986 Tatchell contributed a chapter to a book entitled Betrayal of Youth produced by several official members of PIE. The editor was Warren Middleton, a founder member of PIE. The book argued for the complete abolition of any ages of consent and asserted that children seek and enjoy sex with adults. Tatchell write “What purpose does it (the age of consent) serve other than reinforcing a set of increasingly quaint, minority moral values left over from the Victorian era?” The book is in the British Library.

In 1997 Tatchell advocating legalized pederasty in this article:- I'm 14, I'm gay & I want a boyfriend [Abusing the word boyfriend to mean sodomitical partner] ^[3] Tatchell claims he has interviewed a 14-year-old boy named Lee who is quoted as saying that he is “having sex with” older guys and the only problem is that it’s illegal. Lee confesses that he has been involved in homosexual activity in toilets, parks and bushes since he was eight, has been used as a prostitute by men who sometimes tied him up and raped him, has taken drugs, but still thinks there is no problem and it should all be legalized. Tatchell maintains that his acquaintance with these fourteen-year-old rent boys is in a purely professional capacity, as an interviewer and researcher.

On June 26, 1997, Peter Tatchell wrote a letter to The Guardian newspaper defending a book Dares to Speak published by the Gay Men’s Press, that advocated pedophilia. He wrote that the book was ‘courageous’. It documented ‘examples of societies where consenting inter-generational sex is considered normal’. He gave an example of a New Guinea tribe where ‘all young boys have sex with older warriors as part of their initiation into manhood’ and allegedly grow up to be ‘happy, well-adjusted husbands and fathers’. [NB In the society described in this book, the men live apart from the women and have the minimal contact with them, regarding them as inferior and so disgusting even their smell must be avoided at all costs. The ethnic group is very small in numbers, and has remained extremely primitive, living at a stone-age level of civilization.] Tatchell’s letter asserted that sex or sodomy between adults and children as young as nine was normal and did no harm. “The positive nature of some child-adult relations is not confined to non-Western cultures. Several of my friends – gay and straight, male and female – had sex with adults from the ages of 9 to 13. None feel they were abused. All say it was their conscious choice and gave them great joy. While it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful,” said Tatchell. He did not name these "friends" but left himself open to speculation that he could be one of them.

In 1998, Tatchell wrote an obituary in the Independent for Ian Campbell Dunn, co-founder and leader of PIE describing him as a hero. Tatchell wrote “IAN DUNN was a pioneer for lesbian and gay human rights, remaining a central figure in the battle for homosexual equality - in Scotland and internationally - for 30 years... In 1974, he and Derek Ogg convened the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh - the first post-war conference of homosexual emancipation movements from around the world. This congress led to the formation of the International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA). Now a global federation of 400 gay rights groups in 60 countries, ILGA has played a pivotal role in getting gay equality.” Dunn was jailed in 1984 in the UK for his pedophile activities.

Tatchell continues to campaign tirelessly for the abolition of the age of consent, writing articles about it and making speeches on the radio. In the Irish Independent newspaper on 10 March 2008 he repeated his call for a lower age of consent.

Thug Tactics

In April 1998, Tatchell and a group from Outrage stormed into Canterbury Cathedral, in Kent, England, during the Easter Day service, and deliberately interrupted the sermon being given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey. They forced their way up into the pulpit shouting slogans and displaying placards denouncing the Archbishop for upholding Christian teaching on family, marriage and sexual behaviour. They shouted that he was guilty of "discrimination" for opposing a lowering of the age of consent for male homosexual behaviour to the same as that for heterosexual behaviour (an absurd accusation since the two involve quite different physical acts, and very different outcomes). They also condemned him for continuing to uphold a child's right to have a mother and father wherever possible (instead of being fostered or adopted by same-sex couples such as Elton John and David Furnish). Tatchell, who has no qualifications in theology and is not a Christian, had the impudence to tell the Archbishop that his behavior was not Christian. The congregation of two thousand people shouted "Get out, get out!" After a lengthy and noisy disruption he and the group were eventually ejected from the pulpit by a police officer and stewards and placed under arrest. "A Kent Police spokesman said: "One man is in custody on suspicion of damaging a microphone on the pulpit." Tatchell was then charged with riotous behaviour and stood trial the following December. He was found guilty and fined the paltry sum of £18.60 plus £320 costs. The previous year he had barged uninvited into the grounds of Lambeth Palace to make a similar protest.^[4]

In 2013, Tatchell carried out a similar disruption at a concert given by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall in London, conducted by the distinguished Russian musician Valery Gergiev. Tatchell and some henchmen strode onto the platform, unfurled a banner and delivered a vociferous denunciation of the Russian government's prohibition of obscene homosexual parades or LGBT propaganda to schoolchildren. He had to be removed by the police. ^[5]

In 2001 Tatchell went to Brussels to try to perform a "citizen's arrest" on Robert Mugabe, the communist President of Zimbabwe, whose policies on homosexual rights did not meet Mr Tatchell's approval. He walked up to Mugabe outside a hotel, tried to physically detain him, and was surprised to find himself repulsed somewhat vigorously by the President's trained bodyguards. He later complained that he had been beaten up, possibly reminding some of the old adage that "fools rush in where angels fear to tread". ^[6]

References

1. ↑ http://www.secularism.org.uk/comingoutasatheistpetertatchellg.html
2. ↑ Tatchell, Peter (12 October 2010). "The Gay Liberation Front's social revolution". The Guardian. London.
3. ↑ http://www.ipce.info/newsletters/e_22/2_16_Lee.htm
4. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/77536.stm https://www.independent.co.uk/news/tatchell-charged-after-disrupting-careys-sermon-1156083.html
5. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10432221/Russian-conductor-Valery-Gergiev-hits-back-in-anti-gay-row.html
6. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/06/zimbabwe.andrewosborn