Catalogue Number
NMLH.2004.41.7.37
Object Name
poster
Title
The road to Reading jail starts
Place
Reading
People
OutRage!, Bolton 7, Oscar Wilde
Events
Bolton 7
Date
1998
Description
OutRage! was a queer direct action group formed in May 1990 and active until 2011. Its aims were to assert the human rights of LGBTQIA people; to fight homophobia, discrimination and violence; and to affirm rights to sexual freedom and self-determination. This is a plain white poster with black text reading "THE ROAD TO READING JAIL STARTS HERE / THE LAW IS NOT BLIND IT DISCRIMINATES" This poster is a reference to Oscar Wilde's imprisonment in Reading Gaol wherein he was convicted of gross indecency in 1895; almost a hundred yars later, the Bolton 7, a group of gay and bisexual men were convicted of the same offence in 1998 as even though homosexual sex had been legalised in 1967, it was still illegal for more than two men to have sex at any one time. One of the 7 was 17 at the time when the age of consent for gay men was set at 18, two years higher than for straight men, which added weight to the convictions.
