On Saturday, I went to the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year award ceremony.
Peter Tatchell was the deserving winner for his life-long commitment to human rights.
NSS President Terry Sanderson said of him: ‘But he has persevered and now he has made the unprecedented transition from public enemy number one to national treasure.’
Tatchell’s been an amazing advocate for 45 years. Some of the things he’s done includes being convicted under the 1860 Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 for interrupting the Easter Sermon of the then Archbishop of Canterbury in protest to his support for laws that discriminate against gays and ambushing the motorcade of the Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe, in an attempt to make a citizen’s arrest on charges of torture.
Here’s a piece in the Gay Star News about his win.
Previous winners include Pragna Patel, Steve Jones and moi [Nick Cohen – who also spoke on free expression at the ceremony – wrote about my win in 2005 in a piece called ‘One Woman’s War’].
As a man who has lived an alternative lifestyle for 20odd years I’ve had tremendous respect for PT. He has along the way enlightened my thoughts and lifted the scales from my eyes. He has made me feel better about myself and about *so* many other people. I’ve become a completely enlightened Libertarian.
Unfortunately PT has recently dropped the ball and become a victim of “prescribed” thought and some loony left chants. I’m talking about so called islamophobia. Sorry mate but there really isn’t any such thing. Nobody cares about people practising the Muslim religion quietly in their own space or walking down the street with a headscarf on.
What people object so strongly to, what people fear, is radical islam. A cult of misogyny, repression, hate and murder. An equal of the foetid dreams of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot et all. The faithful would murder me, many people I know and PT himself. Not just in one of the hell holes they control but here in the UK if they could get away with it. And there are more and more of them in the UK and across Europe. In fact it would be good to come up with a new name to describe them! (OK I already have one beginning with C but it isn’t polite…)
Sadly not just men, their ranks are also full of women suffering from the same programmed insanity. I say programmed because it is a fully formed Cult.
I’d like to see PT get off the fence, stop nibbling around the edges by shouting across the pavement at the EDL and confront the real Devil abroad. I believe he doesn’t, just as comedians and politicians do not, because of fear. Unlike Maryam!!
I am somewhat on the fence when it comes to Tatchell.
In one way he has done some good but overall he comes across as an attention seeking politically correct media whore.
I remember not so long back the ruckus in Tower Hamlets where the local gay community had been threatened by Islamists.
The locals wanted a gay pride parade to go through the area to put on a show of strength, but the GLBT Muslim group ‘Imaan’ and Peter didn’t want this. No, something to do with harming ‘community cohesion’ or other such clap-trap.
Fair enough, but when Peter’s supporters announce their adoration for trying to make a citizens arrest on Robert Mugabe and shouting his mouth off in a church (which, if I went to church, it’s something I could happily do myself) let’s remember, he is not that brave.
He knows who he can challenge and who he cannot.
I am just greatful that during the Tower hamlets affair 30 individuals went ahead and had their own march, ignoring St. Pete.
Good on them.