Thank you, Guardian, for publishing Sunil Gupta’s joyous photographs of the LGBTQ+ movement in Britain in its early years (‘This was my own tribe!’: Pride before it went commercial – in pictures, 22 November), including his photo of the banner of the Labour Campaign for Gay Rights (we added “lesbian” in 1984). I was marching under that banner.
In those days before the corporatisation of Pride (big business wanted nothing to do with us; we were illegal and had no rights), we understood that we had to fight for legal and social change by protest and lobbying.
This week, you have reported that a far-right party, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom, has won the most seats in the Netherlands parliament and that a far-right former TV pundit, Javier Milei, has become president of Argentina. Meanwhile, Donald Trump rides high in the polls in the US.
When will the LGBTQ+ community in Britain wake up to the reality that our recent freedoms will never be permanent while the far right continues to be a threat across the world?
Dr Peter Purton
Author, Champions of Equality: Trade Unions and LGBT Rights in Britain
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