My Political Hero: Peter Tatchell

I first came across political activist Peter Tatchell shortly after the equal marriage bill passed in parliament a few months ago. Anxiously watching the debate live on my tiny laptop screen in my not-much-bigger room in halls (the only time I broke the TV licensing laws) I saw Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP, demanding that the Minister for Women and Equalities deny the rumours that Tatchell was puppeteering David Cameron’s stance on same-sex marriage. In the end, it transpired that these rumours were false – he had very little influence on the Prime Minister. Instead, he had set his sights on the Mayor of London. When Boris Johnson lead the London Pride march in 2010, in the infamous pink and sequined cowboy hat, Tatchell jumped in front of him, on camera, and asked Johnson whether he would support a same-sex marriage bill. The mayor stumbled for a few moments, until he realized that speaking against same sex marriage while leading a gay pride march would be political suicide. It was the first time that one of the traditional Tories had made a statement in support of the idea, and it made it suddenly acceptable, if not even fashionable, for a hardcore Conservative to be positive about marriage equality. Without this, it is unlikely that Cameron would have been able to subsequently suggest the bill.

Tatchell has campaigned for LGBTQ rights for a long time, without any potential benefit to himself, as although he is gay, his 14-16 hour, seven day week work schedule does not allow him any time for a relationship. His selfless lifestyle does not end there – he only began paying himself a £29,000 salary from the donations to the Peter Tatchell Foundation last year – a pound or two less than the national minimum wage. He also does not limit himself only to LGBTQ issues, and instead stands against anything he believes to be an injustice.

An example of this was the event that changed his standing within the media, from being condemned as a “gay terrorist” to being hailed as a “hero”. On discovering that the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, known for abusing the human rights of his citizens, would be visiting Brussels, Tatchell travelled there, found out Mugabe’s itinerary, and preceded to attempt to put him under house arrest. He stepped out in front of the President and said, “I am putting you under arrest on charges of torture under the United Nations Convention Against Torture 1984”. Mugabe’s bodyguards took Tatchell into the corner and severely beat him, including several blows to the head. He reports that since the attack, his “memory, concentration, balance and co-ordination have been adversely affected”. Despite this, he attempted to approach Mugabe another three times that day. According to Tatchell, he was first pulled away by the Belgian secret police and handed over to two more of Mugabe’s men. He managed to duck away while they were distracted by journalists, and ran to stand in front of Mugabe’s car, where a bodyguard got out and knocked him unconscious. As soon as he came round, he attempted to enter the building that Mugabe had gone to, the home of the Belgian Prime Minister, where he was informed that Mugabe’s men had guns. Only when he saw one of them reach into his jacket did he run.

However, the thing that really strikes me about Tatchell is not just his bravery and selflessness. There have definitely been braver – Emily Davidson, the suffragette who ran in front of the king’s horse and was killed, for example. Tatchell’s real skill is his ability to be in the right place, at the right time, and say the right thing. Instead of simply protesting Robert Mugabe he found a United Nations convention that he was in breach of, and without being a bully, he still managed to back Boris Johnson into a corner, giving equal marriage a chance to actually become a reality.