Catalogue Number
NMLH.2020.5.11
Object Name
Badge
People
Ernest Hole; Mary Whitehouse; Gay News
Description
Round beige badge that reads at the front "GAY NEWS FIGHTS ON!" in fuchsia around a photo of Mary Whitehouse's face.
'Gay News fights on!' was the slogan of the 1977 campaign in support of the newspaper Gay News. The newspaper had published the poem âThe Love That Dares to Speak Its Nameâ by James Kirkup, which depicted Jesus having relationships with men. The conservative activist Mary Whitehouse brought a private prosecution against Gay News under a now-defunct blasphemy law. Despite the readership establishing the Gay News Fighting Fund, the newspaper and publisher were convicted, fined and handed a suspended nine-month prison sentence. It was the last successful blasphemy trial in the UK.
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