Belfast Pride: Amnesty welcomes Peter Tatchell to Belfast to shine light on homophobia

On Monday 28 July Amnesty International members will welcome well-known gay rights activist Peter Tatchell to Belfast to deliver the Amnesty International Pride Lecture as part of the city's gay pride festival. He will also join in a panel discussion, Pride Talks Back, following the Amnesty lecture.

The human rights organisation is drawing attention to how LGBTI people experience homophobia and discrimination in different parts of the world.

Tatchell is best known for his long-standing campaigns for gay equality. A fearless and sometimes controversial campaigner, in 2007 he was violently attacked at Moscow Pride while standing in solidarity with the local LGBT community. He is also a courageous campaigner for human rights and has twice attempted to perform a citizen's arrest on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland programme director said:

"Amnesty International is pleased to bring Peter Tatchell to Belfast Pride as part of its ongoing commitment to oppose homophobia and discrimination at home and abroad. Gay people in Northern Ireland know what it is to experience both verbal and physical homophobic attacks. Peter Tatchell will be able to help set this experience in an international context, where Pride parades can be banned and gay people imprisoned."

Peter Tatchell said:

"I am delighted to be coming to Belfast at a time when the lesbian and gay community is challenging the prejudice and verbal bullying of some local politicians. My talk at Belfast Pride I will highlight how, right across the world, LGBT people are resisting abuses of their human rights and standing together in solidarity against homophobicattacks. For me, universal LGBT h to shine light oiuman rights is the number one message of our Pride celebrations."

"It is shameful that over 70 nations still outlaw homosexuality, that several countries retain the death penalty for same-sex relationships, and that none of the international human rights conventions explicitly guarantee gay equality and protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. It is time the UN passed a convention prohibiting homophobic discrimination and acknowledging that sexual rights are human rights."