Chris Morris

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Chris Morris (born 1979) was prominent in the campaign to lower the age of consent for gay male sex from 18 to 16. . Along with Euan Sutherland, and backed by Stonewall, he brought a case under the European Convention on Human Rights, and founded the gay organisation Youthspeak. In the end it was Sutherland's case (Sutherland v United Kingdom) which was considered by the European Commission of Human Rights, as by this time (1997) Chris Morris was already over 18.

In 1999 Chris Morris founded the gay campaigning magazine Outcast. The magazine satirised and was critical of many gay activists and businesses and Morris was criticised for "biting the hand that fed him" during his age of consent campaign.[1]

With OutRage!, he broke into Lambeth Palace and confronted the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, about his opposition to an equal age of consent. With Peter Tatchell and others, he attempted a citizen's arrest on President Robert Mugabe to publicise Mugabe's alleged role in the torture of two opposition journalists (Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto) in Zimbabwe. He was himself arrested but later released without charge.[2]

Chris Morris went on to study psychology and work as a political speechwriter and consultant.[3]

External links

http://chrismorris.com/ Chris Morris's website.

References

This article is a stub. You can help the UK LGBT History Project by expanding it.
  1. http://gaymafiawatch.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/whatever-happened-to-chris-morris/ Whatever happened to Chris Morris?
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/558385.stm Tatchell 'vindicated' as charges dropped, BBC News Online, 10 December 1999
  3. http://www.evolver-talent.com/2011/06/chris-morris-interview-part-1/ Evolver Talent: Interview with Chris Morris