OutRage!
Encyclopedia
- For other uses of the term, see Outrage (disambiguation).
OutRage! is a British LGBT rights group that was formed to fight for equal rights of lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, and bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) people in comparison to heterosexual
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
people. It is a group which has at times been criticised for outing
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
individuals who wanted to keep their homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
secret and for being extremist; members have been arrested in the course of some OutRage! actions. Membership has declined from its early 1990s heyday, though OutRage! remains active.
Formation
The group was formed at a meeting on 10 May 1990, called after the murder of gay actor Michael Boothe (which occurred on the previous 30 April). There were four principal founders including Peter TatchellPeter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
. Between 40 and 60 people attended the first meeting, including many who had been active in the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
and other campaigns.
A second meeting, this time in public, was held on 24 May. Alcorn came up with the name and Tatchell wrote the first draft of what became the Statement of Aims. Michael Burgess was elected with another man as joint treasurer as the first officers. The first OutRage! action was on 7 June at Hyde Park Public Toilets to protest Metropolitan Police entrapment of gay men cruising, and attracted some media attention. OLGA offered the group office space at its base at the London Lesbian and Gay Centre
London Lesbian and Gay Centre
The London Lesbian and Gay Centre was a lesbian and gay community centre located at 67-69 Cowcross Street, London. It was established in 1985 by the Greater London Council, which donated three-quarters of a million pounds to its establishment....
, and regular fundraising was set up with the group selling t-shirts with its logo. One of the defining images of OutRage! actions was taken in September 1990 when the group organised a "kiss-in" at Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
to protest against arrests of gay men for kissing in public. One member, identified as an actor called Richard, climbed up and kissed the statue of Anteros.
From January 1991 the group established a series of "affinity, focus and caucus groups", which took on specific aspects of the group's remit. They were given intentionally obscene and insulting names: the Policing Intelligence Group (PIG), the Whores of Babylon (tacking religious homophobia), Perverts Undermining State ScrutinY (PUSSY - tackling censorship), QUeers Asserting the Right to Ride Every Line Safely (QUARRELS - on safety on London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
), Expanding The Non-Indigenous Contingent (ETHNIC), and Lesbians Answer Back In Anger (LABIA). To go along with these names, the financial team adopted the name QUeer Accountants Never Go Out (QUANGO).
OutRage! also helped begin in 1991, with other London-based LGBT groups, the London Lesbian and Gay Policing Initiative, a process which ultimately led the Metropolitan Police to begin to take seriously homophobic attacks, and to address the needs of its own LGBT officers.
Outing controversy
The issue of outingOuting
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
, which had already begun in the USA, split the group in 1991. There was no consensus and so the group agreed to have no policy. Those who favoured the tactic (principally Shane Broomhall and Patrick McCann) then established their own group outside OutRage called "Faggots Rooting Out Closeted Sexuality" (FROCS) which was committed to outing. They printed and distributed posters claiming Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
was gay, before contacting the Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
with plans for a wider campaign. Peter Tatchell agreed to act as public speaker for the group. The outing plan was widely denounced by the press, before FROCS admitted the plan had been a ruse with the goal of getting newspapers which had themselves outed lesbians and gay men to denounce the practice of outing.
In 1992 the group suffered from entryism
Entryism
Entryism is a political tactic by which an organisation or state encourages its members or agents to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely...
from far left political parties who wished to annex OutRage! as a front organisation. The most serious was by the Lesbian and Gay Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (LGCARF). The creation of the focus groups added to the vulnerability for a takeover and on 25 June the group took a decision to abolish all the groups. This decision was accepted by most but not by LABIA, and many of its members left, eventually to form the London chapter of the Lesbian Avengers
Lesbian Avengers
The Lesbian Avengers began in New York City in 1992 as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class.Though some groups continue...
.
The 1993 Actions
The then Chief Rabbi Immanuel JakobovitsImmanuel Jakobovits
Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits, Kt was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991. His successor is the present Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.-Biography:...
reacted to the 1993 discovery by Dean Hamer
Dean Hamer
Dr. Dean Hamer is an American geneticist, author, and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to biotechnology and AIDS prevention, his research on the genetics of human behavior including sexual orientation and spirituality, and his popular books and documentaries on a wide range of...
of possible genetic connections to homosexuality by saying it offered the opportunity for genetic engineering to eliminate homosexuality. OutRage! held an action outside a synagogue in London where it handed out leaflets comparing Jakobovits' remarks to those of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. This action brought accusations that the group was being anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
Nine members of OutRage! were arrested in November 1993 in the offices of Benetton
Benetton Group
Benetton Group S.p.A. is a global luxury fashion brand, based in Treviso, Italy. The name comes from the Benetton family who founded the company in 1965. Benetton Group is listed in Milan....
UK, where they had been organising a protest against the company's advertising. The nine were charged with various public order offences but were eventually acquitted.
Age of consent
1994 saw the issue of gay rights become more prominent in British politics as the House of Commons debated whether to equalise the age of consentAge of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
for gay sex, then 21, with that for heterosexual sex at 16. OutRage! had organised a series of actions over the issue in previous years and it was prominent in the crowd outside Parliament on the night of the vote, where it had called for a peaceful presence. When news came through that equality had been rejected there was a near riot. Many in the crowd shouted the names of two Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Cabinet ministers who were widely rumoured to be gay.
After the vote OutRage! managed to invade the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
National Executive Committee meeting where it protested about the 35 Labour MPs who had voted against equality. More light-heartedly, the group petitioned the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
embassy for an invasion so that the UK could have Denmark's more liberal legislation.
Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
of Outrage! said in 2000: "All consenting, victimless sexual offences—homosexual and heterosexual—should be abolished, including the criminalisation of consensual adult pornography and sadomasochism.
"The law on the age of consent should take into account the fact that over 50 percent of young people have their first sexual experience before they are 16. Consenting sex involving partners under 16 should not be prosecuted, providing they are of similar ages and there is no evidence of pressure, manipulation or exploitation." According to OutRage! in 2000, "A 20 year old man who has consenting gay sex with a man aged 17 is categorised as a pædophile and forced to sign the Sex Offenders' Register. In contrast, a 19 year old heterosexual man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged 13 does not have to sign the register."
Later the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000
Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000
The Sexual Offences Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the age of consent for male homosexual sexual activities from 18 to that for heterosexual and lesbian sexual activities at 16, or 17 in Northern Ireland...
equalised the age of consent for all sexual acts at 16 (17 in Northern Ireland).
Church of England
In autumn 1994 OutRage! began to concentrate on religious homophobia. It was revealed in the press that the new Bishop of Durham Michael TurnbullMichael Turnbull
Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England from 1994 until 2003.Turnbull was born in Wombwell, South Yorkshire. He was a student at Keble College, Oxford, graduating in 1958. He prepared for ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall and St John's College, University...
had a conviction for a gay sex offence, and OutRage! disrupted his ordination ceremony. There were other Bishops known or suspected to be gay in private, and OutRage! held a demonstration outside Church House naming ten Bishops and urging them to "Tell the truth!". Although the ten bishops were not named in the British Press, their names were published in the Australian gay newspaper the Melbourne Star Observer, and have since been published on the internet. At the same time, Peter Tatchell began a dialogue with the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
, David Hope
David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes
David Michael Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes KCVO PC was the Archbishop of York in the Church of England from 1995 to 2005.-Early career:...
, who had not been named as the group thought he could be persuaded to come out voluntarily. Press stories speculating about the personal sexuality of Bishops led Dr Hope to fear the worst and he called a press conference in February 1995 at which he denounced OutRage! for putting him under pressure, while admitting that his sexuality was "a grey area".
In January 1995 OutRage! had sent 20 Members of Parliament known or believed to be gay letters inviting them to come out. On 20 March the Belfast Telegraph carried the story that one of the MPs was from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, widely assumed to be James Kilfedder
James Kilfedder
Sir James Alexander Kilfedder was a Northern Ireland unionist politician.-Early life:...
. That day he died suddenly of a heart attack. The press immediately assumed that the death and the letter were linked and some of the fiercest denunciations of OutRage! were written.
Bolton 7
The Bolton 7Bolton 7
The Bolton 7 were a group of gay and bisexual men who were convicted on 12 January 1998 before Judge Michael Lever at Bolton Crown Court of the offences of gross indecency under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and of age of consent offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994...
were a group of gay and bisexual men who were convicted on January 12, 1998 before Judge Michael Lever at Bolton Crown Court of the offences of gross indecency under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and of age of consent offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Equivalent heterosexual behaviour was not a crime. Estimates of the overall cost of the prosecution were in the region of £500,000.
Despite their convictions, none of them received custodial sentences possibly as a result of a high profile campaign led by gay human rights group OutRage!. Over 400 letters were presented to the court in support of the men including those from MPs, Bishops and human rights groups. The letters urged the judge not to impose a custodial sentence, with one group, Amnesty International, pledging to declare the men prisoners of conscience should they be imprisoned.
In 2000, six of the men appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
arguing that the prosecutions against them had violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
by interfering with 'the right to respect for a private family life' enshrined in article 8 of the Convention. They were subsequently awarded compensation. As the remaining seventh man of the original group was not part of the litigation, he was not deemed eligible by the Home Office for the compensation.
Legislation subsequently introduced by the Labour Government has broadly equalised the treatment of homosexual and heterosexual behaviours in criminal law. The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 equalised the age of consent for gay sex with that of the heterosexual age of consent which is now 16 for both. The offences of gross indecency and buggery have been repealed and sexual activity between more than two men is no longer a crime in the United Kingdom.
Stop Murder Music
OutRage! have also made complaints against what they allege to be the anti-gay lyrics of certain dancehallDancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
stars such as Buju Banton
Buju Banton
Buju Banton is a Jamaican dancehall, ragga, and reggae musician.Banton has recorded pop and dance songs, as well as songs dealing with sociopolitical topics....
, Elephant Man (musician), Sizzla
Sizzla
Sizzla Kalonji, or simply Sizzla in are de reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is well-known for his above-average prolificacy...
, Bounty Killer
Bounty Killer
Bounty Killer is a Grammy nominated Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. He is the founder of a dancehall collective known as The Alliance.-Early life and career:...
, Beenie Man
Beenie Man
Anthony Moses Davis , better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Grammy award winning Jamaican reggae artist. He is the self-proclaimed "King of the Dancehall".-Biography:...
, Vybz Kartel
Vybz Kartel
Adidja Palmer , better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall artist, songwriter and businessman. He has many nicknames, including Addi Teacher and Gaza Emperor.-Biography:...
, Baby Cham, Spragga Benz
Spragga Benz
-Career:He began his career around 1991. Once known to his friends as "Spaghetti" , but this was later shortened to Spragga. The Benz in his name comes from the sound system for which he used to work for, L.A. Benz, and it is through this that he found his way into the music industry at a Dubplate...
, Rally Bop and Capleton
Capleton
Capleton is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist. He is also referred to as King Shango, King David, The Fireman and The Prophet. His record label is called David House Productions...
, rap stars such as Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...
and Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
,. Sizzla had to cancel concert dates due to the protests of OutRage! Members of the Rastafari movement
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
accuse Outrage! of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and extremism
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
, saying they have "gone over way over the top. It’s simply racist to put Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Sizzla
Sizzla
Sizzla Kalonji, or simply Sizzla in are de reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is well-known for his above-average prolificacy...
in the same bracket and just shows how far they is prepared to go.”
Status
In November 2006 the original OutRage website ceased to be maintained and instead directed to Peter Tatchell's personal site. Currently, the website is up again, links to Facebook groups for the North East, North West, Northern Ireland and London as incorporates its own TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
stream.
As of July 2008, OutRage! had a presence on the Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
social networking site listing current news and campaigns.
In September 2009, a blog for "Outrage North East Group" had been published.
See also
- LGBT rights in the United Kingdom
- List of LGBT rights organisations
- Bash BackBash BackBash Back! is a network of radical, anarchist queer projects within the United States. Formed in Chicago in 2007 to facilitate a convergence of radical trans and gay activists from around the country, Bash Back! seeks to critique the ideology of the mainstream LGBT movement, which the group sees...