The Trial of Jeremy Thorpe, 1979
Brixton gays picketing the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) as Jeremy Thorpe arrives for his trial on the charge of conspiracy to murder
Stephen Gee holding the 'Homosexuality is not a defect' sign with Nettie Pollard to his left
Colm Clifford and Ian Townson worked at Union Place Community Resource Centre where Colm established ‘Homosexual Posters.’ We produced this image on a gay calendar and also printed a gay men’s diary, gay-themed Christmas cards and various campaigning leaflets
Leaflet handed out at the Old Bailey attacking the notion of Thorpe’s homosexuality as a ‘fatal flaw’ in his character and exhorting him to come clean and come out loud and proud as gay
The South London Gay Liberation Front and Brixton gays organised a picket of the Jeremy Thorpe trial at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). He was charge with conspiracy to murder Norman Scott with whom he had a sexual relationship. During the trial Thorpe’s homosexuality had been described as a ‘fatal flaw’ in his character. The gay liberationists were there to challenge that negative description by urging Thorpe to come out loud and proud as gay now that his career as an MP and leader of the Liberal Party was in ruins. Thorpe was found not guilty though it was felt at the time by several observers that the judge had biased the jury in his favour by building a picture of Thorpe as a paragon of virtue against all the other witnesses who were portrayed in wholly negative terms. The judges deliberations were famously satirised on television by Peter Cook in the annual Secret Policeman’s Ball (1979).