The human rights campaigner says “monarchy is not compatible with democracy, making the monarch head of state excludes worthy Black and Asian Britons from that role, and the Queen has snubbed the LGBTQ+ community for 70 years.”
Instead of attending the Jubilee, Peter is speaking on June 5 in support of women’s and trans rights at the How The Light Gets In Festival in Hay.
The formal invitation to be part of the Jubilee came from Nicholas Coleridge CBE and Sir Michael Lockett KVCO, the heads of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant organising committee. Peter Tatchell declined the invitation, saying: “From one human being to another, I wish the Queen well. However, I will respectfully decline.
“I am a life-long republican and do not support the institution of monarchy. A hereditary head of state is, in my view, incompatible with democracy, where positions of state should be decided by, and accountable to, the public.
“Royalty is a relic of feudalism. I see it as a symbol of privilege and inequality. Well, that’s my considered opinion.
“Moreover, I might add that the Queen’s neglectful stance towards the LGBTQ+ community is deeply regrettable. To my knowledge, the words lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender have never publicly passed her lips and she has never visited or been a patron of any LGBTQ+ charity. To be ignored for 70 years feels like a deliberate snub.”
