This year marks 45 years since a landmark case effectively decriminalised homosexuality in Northern Ireland and set the precedent for many other European countries to follow suit.
This was a key moment in LGBTQ+ History – and one in which a King’s alumni, Peter Ashman (Law, 1973) played a role. In fact, throughout his career, he fought for equality in and out of the courtroom and his life intersected with some key moments in LGBTQ+ history in the UK.
Peter’s time at King’s coincided with a vibrant but challenging era for the LGBTQ+ community in London. Although the first Pride parade took place in the capital in 1972, the atmosphere at that time was fraught and the homosexual community faced ongoing discrimination and stigma.
Peter was involved in the latter stages of the UK Gay Liberation Front (GLF). The GLF was formed in 1970 and was concerned by the over-policing of its community in London and campaigned against this at their first protest in Highbury in 1970.
Although energised by global equality efforts, the UK GLF operated against significant backlash, clashing with moral conservative campaigner Mary Whitehouse both ideologically and at protests.
Peter worked with the GLF on the last edition of their magazine, Come Together, before the organisation disbanded in 1973.
After his time at university, Peter joined the Campaign for Homosexuality Equality (CHE), then the main gay rights organisation in England and Wales. There, he worked with other members to challenge homophobic laws and regulations in the UK and Europe. Specifically, they campaigned to remove homosexuality from the World Health Organisation’s classification of diseases and for a European law to protect gay people from employment discrimination.
In 1978, on behalf of CHE, he co-organised the founding meeting of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). It was the first organisation to campaign at international level for lesbian and gay rights. There were 30 activists present, mainly from Europe, but also from Australia, Canada and the USA. Today ILGA has 2000 member organisations in 170 countries.
After graduation and qualification, he spent a couple of years in a commercial law firm before joining JUSTICE as its legal officer in 1977. He was its first employee. His work involved policy advocacy, particularly in Parliament, and campaigning to rectify miscarriages of justice.
Dudgeon v United Kingdom
Later in the 1970s, Peter was part of the legal team that represented Jeff Dudgeon, a shipping clerk from Belfast, in a seminal case in LGBTQ+ history at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Legislation that decriminalised homosexuality between men in England, Wales and Scotland had not been extended to Northern Ireland, where the crime still carried a potential life sentence.
After Jeff’s house was raided by the police, he was interrogated by the Constabulary about his sexuality. Jeff’s complaint was that this law and practise contravened Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that all individuals are entitled to a private life.
In 1981, the ECtHR decided in Jeff’s favour, and this was the world’s first successful LGBT rights case before an international human rights tribunal. The judgment set a significant legal precedent whereby similar laws in other European countries could be challenged. This was the case for the Republic of Ireland in 1988 and Cyprus in 1993, which cited Dudgeon v United Kingdom as a legal precedent
Following the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, former Soviet bloc countries lined up to join the Council of Europe. ILGA activists were able to use the Dudgeon judgment as a lever in the accession process, ensuring that its precedent was upheld. No fewer than 14 states decriminalised homosexuality, freeing LGBT communities in those countries from continued legal threats.
Rough Justice
Peter’s career that followed was characterised by fighting for fairness and highlighting miscarriages of justice. Due to his experience, he was involved with the production of BBC’s Rough Justice, a TV series that covered potential miscarriages of justice in the UK. He became a regular legal commentator on the programme, which played a role in overturning the convictions of 18 people.
Continued campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights
In 1989, Peter was one of the founding members of Stonewall. It was established on the one-year anniversary of the enactment of Section 28, which forbade schools and local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”. For the first six months, Stonewall was run from Peter’s front room in his flat in Islington.
Later in his career he moved to Brussels, the centre of European law, where he worked with the European Human Rights Foundation and the European Commission. He returned to the UK in the 2000s, where he worked for the Foreign Office as a Human Rights Adviser.
Sadly, Peter died in 2014 at the age of 63 from pancreatic cancer. He left behind an indelible legacy on human rights legislation in the UK and abroad, and his commitment to campaigning for LGBTQ+ equality under the law has served as an inspiration for those that have come after him.
Peter was not only a witness to key moments in LGBTQ+ history, but he was also an active participant in it and had a hand in shaping the lives of LGBTQ+ people today.
His friend and fellow campaigner, Nigel Warner, adds “Peter was a remarkable human rights lawyer and activist, determined, creative, visionary, and never losing hope, however bleak the outlook. He was also extraordinarily generous in helping others, from victims of miscarriages of justice through to friends and acquaintances. And he was very modest – if anyone deserves the title of “unsung hero”, it is he.”