R D Reid
Dr R D Reid (Robert Douglas Reid, c.1899–1983 ?[1]) was an early gay campaigner.
He was headmaster of King's College Taunton in the 1930s, but resigned in 1937 in being convicted of importuning in 1937. At some point he then moved to 8 Chamberlain Street, Wells where he continued working as an academic and historian.[1] He wrote letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury urging church support for law reform. He raised the issue again in the the Daily Telegraph in 1953, only to be drowned in a chorus of moral outrage.
Following the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957, he wrote to The Spectator complaining of what he called "pogroms" by the police against gay men.[2] The letter provoked a number of replies, including one from Tony Dyson who went on to found the Homosexual Law Reform Society.
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://mapme.com/prideofplace/places/Activism/Private%20Home,1930s,1950s,1940s/65293eb6-b04a-4c77-8ab9-5ca2bbe30d2a/info. Pride of Place entry for 8 Chamberlain Street. Accessed: 2015-07-06. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6ZpBj32uQ)
- ↑ The Spectator, 3 Jan 1958, quoted in Amiable Warriors Volume One, page 65.
