Meet the Author: Peter Tatchell and Robert Taylor - Safer Sexy

To mark World AIDS Day, Queer Britain Museum has invited the creators of the book Safer Sexy, published in 1994 to share their experiences of making the world’s first comprehensive guide to gay sex safely.

This book included explicit images of safe gay sex, which drove a coach and horses through Britain’s strict sexual censorship laws – paving the way for a wider liberalisation of sexual imagery law and enforcement.

Join us as we explore the need for this book in 1994, its conception, the explicit photography, the challenge with distribution, its impact, and its legacy as the UK strives towards zero-transmission of HIV by 2030.

London Events Queer Britain Literary Books Talk

The Lineup

Peter Tatchell, Author

Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights, democracy, LGBT+ freedom and global justice since 1967. Among his many involvements, he was a leading activist in the Gay Liberation Front 1971-74 and in the queer human rights group OutRage! 1990-2011. Through the Peter Tatchell Foundation, he currently campaigns for human rights in Britain and internationally.

Robert Taylor, Photographer

Robert Taylor has published and exhibited widely, with work in the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery and several other permanent collections including The Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, Oxford University and Aston University. Following service in the RAF, being called to the Bar, and educational publishing in Nigeria, his friendship with the photographer Rotimi Fani Kayode was a major influence on his decision to become a photographer himself.

Over 35 years Robert’s practice divided between collections of portraits commissioned by academic and scientific institutions including the Royal Society, and various Oxford University colleges celebrating landmark anniversaries including the first admission of women into hitherto all male institutions. Other projects include a series commissioned by the ICA, of portraits of Black British practitioners across the arts. He has also produced work for charities in Africa and HIV charities in the UK.

More recently a project based at Hampton Court Palace, in collaboration with, amongst others, David McAlmont, explored notions of beauty, from eight black queer perspectives: https://permissiblebeauty.le.ac.uk/ .

Other interests include offender rehabilitation through the arts, and jewellery for men.

Andrew Given, Host

Andrew is the Chief Executive of Queer Britain, the national LGBTQ+ museum, based in Kings Cross, London. A self-described queer history nerd, Andrew is leading the museum into its next phase, from start-up organisation into becoming established as a leading cultural institution in the UK.