Battle Royal With Cheese Review
Peter Tatchell has been a central figure in LGBTQ activism both in the Anglosphere and throughout the world. For decades, he has been a dogged crusader that will not back down from a fight against any homophobic law, institution, or regime. So why is he, as the title of director Christopher Amos’ documentary indicates, so hated? Not surprisingly, a lot of the hatred directed at Tatchell was generated by homophobes who felt threatened by an articulate and politically active man who was openly gay.
But, and this is the surprising part, some of the vitriol directed at Tatchell came from the more moderate segments of LGBTQ activism that felt that his tactics were too radical. Hating Peter Tatchell is a survey of Tatchell’s life as activist and polarizing figure. The film also serves as a crash course on the history of LGBTQ activism.
Tatchell was born in Australia to parents who were fervently doctrinaire about their Christianity. As he tells it, he feared coming out to his parents because he suspected they would have reported him to the police and have had him arrested. Tatchell grew up in an era in which LGBTQ individuals were seen as others and, as was the case in Australia and England, non-heteronormality was criminalized. Inspired by the Black Civil Rights Movement and anti-war movements in the United States, a young Tatchell moved from Australia to England and went all in on the fight against institutionalized homophobia. Read the full article.