George Montague affectionately know as ‘The Oldest Gay in the Village’ will deliver his petition calling for an apology from the Government for his historic sexual offence conviction to Downing Street on Wednesday, November 2.
Despite reassurances last week from Simon Kirby MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven that the Government will very shortly be issuing posthumous pardons for thousands of gay and bi-sexual men including George, convicted of now abolished sexual offences, Brighton Kemptown resident George is still insisting he wants an apology from the Government about his historic conviction.
George aged 93 was forced to resign in 1974 from his position as a Senior Commissioner in the Boy Scout Association where he ran camps for severely physically disabled boys from six southern counties in the UK.
He says: “As a consequence of the Gross Indecency Laws at the time, I was arrested and charged enthusiastically by homophobic police officers, assisted by provocateurs and informers. Then, if one was born to be “in love” with another man, one was automatically presumed guilty of these offences.
“Myself, and 49,000 others, still have criminal convictions. I am therefore petitioning for an apology from this Government on the part of their predecessors. Some of those past legislators are still alive, often asleep in the House of Lords on £300 per day, many of them refusing to accept the fact that being homosexual is NOT a choice.
“I agree that any indecency of a sexual nature IN PUBLIC should still be an offence but our ‘offences’ were often ‘committed’ in private. I don’t seek a pardon, for that admits guilt (eg. Alan Turing), I believe that these convictions should be quashed and want that apology from my Government BEFORE I die.”
George has been running an online petition which he will be delivering in person to The Prime Minister, Theresa May MP in Downing Street at 2.30pm on Wednesday, November 2.
You have 48 hours to sign Georges petition and allow George to die a happy man free of any conviction, click here:
George the author of The Oldest Gay in the Village will also deliver 8,000 signatures he has collected by hand to add to his 6,400 online signatures.
For more information about George, click here:
