Veteran LGBTQ+ rights activist and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell says he was “forcibly ejected” from Birmingham Pride parade for criticising past institutional homophobia by the police.
Tatchell, who has been campaigning for apologies from police forces across the UK for past actions that unfairly targeted LGBTQ+ folks, shared details of the alleged incident on the Peter Tatchell Foundation website.
The campaigner gave a speech at the start of the Pride parade, which took place in the West Midlands city on Saturday (24 May), and called out West Midlands Police’s behaviour whilst carrying a placard that read: “West Midlands police refuse to apologise for anti-LGBT+ witch-hunts. SHAME! #ApologiseNow”
He was subsequently asked to leave by officers. He was not arrested though, West Midlands Police confirmed.
“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,” Tatchell said.
“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.”
Tatchell said the officers in question “must face disciplinary action” and he wants a public apology from the force for the “police fabricating reasons and forcibly removing me from the parade”.
Tatchell continued: “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.”
“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.”
Tatchell asked West Midlands Police to apologise for past behaviour in 2023 in a letter seen by PinkNews, in which the campaigner said whilst Guildford was not personally responsible for past wrongs he is the current “head of the force that witch-hunted us and wrecked LGBT+ lives”.
“I would respectfully request you to put the past behind us by making an apology to the LGBT+ community, so we can move forward together,” the letter read.
In response to the incident, Birmingham Pride organiser David Nash said, as quoted by the Express & Star: “We can confirm that Peter Tatchell was authorised to take part in the parade.
“Peter is an internationally recognised human rights activist and we can categorically confirm that absolutely no instruction was given by anyone from Birmingham Pride to West Midlands Police to remove him.”
“Further, we do not understand why this action was undertaken.”
Birmingham Pride director Lawrence Barton said: “Peter was a very special guest today. There’s no way on the planet we would have endorsed the police removing him.”
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said in a statement: “We assisted security staff at Saturday’s event with the removal of a man who made his way amongst people who were taking part in the parade. He was not arrested.”
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