Legal for 40 Years: A snapshot from someone who was there
Channel: Staff Pride Network
Date: 2021-03-18

In Scotland, the legalisation of homosexual activities came into effect on the 1st Feb 1981. Terry Munyard was instrumental in this change.

Join us on that historic day to talk to someone who was instrumental in the Gay Rights movement.

We discuss Terry's career, including his involvement in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in the 1970s and the events that led to him co-founding GLAD (Gay Legal Advice).

In 1980, in his capacity as an NCCL gay rights committee member, Terry organised and spoke at a meeting in the House of Commons to highlight the unjust decision of the employment tribunals in a Scottish case, Saunders v Scottish National Camps, which ruled that it was fair to dismiss a man from his job simply because he was gay. We will discuss how this led to the legalisation of gay sexual relations in Scotland.

He went on to be junior counsel in the European Court of Human Rights case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom, the Northern Ireland gay rights case which led to the legalisation of gay sexual relations in that part of the UK.

Terry retired in 2019 after representing one of the defendants in the Stansted 15 trial, who were charged after stopping a plane from removing refugees and asylum seekers, a significant number of whom are still in the UK as they had a right to be here.

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the history of the Gay Rights movement from someone who was directly involved.

Referenced Article: T. Munyard: "AIDS, the workplace and the law", in Equal Opportunities Review (London), Sep.-Oct. 1987, pp. 7-13

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