LEADING British gay rights advocate, Michael Cashman MEP, agreed this month to become a patron of the the UK gay charity, the Pink Triangle Trust, which publishes The Pink Humanist. This is a significant gain for the Trust. Apart from Peter Tatchell, Cashman, who was awarded a CBE in 2012, is probably the best-known LGBT activist in the UK and the rest of Europe. He is a founder of Stonewall, an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, and President of the European Parliament’s Inergroup on LGBT issues.

LEADING British gay rights advocate, Michael Cashman MEP, agreed this month to become a patron of the the UK gay charity, the Pink Triangle Trust, which publishes The Pink Humanist.

This is a significant gain for the Trust. Apart from Peter Tatchell, Cashman, who was awarded a CBE in 2012, is probably the best-known LGBT activist in the UK and the rest of Europe. He is a founder of Stonewall, an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, and President of the European Parliament’s Inergroup on LGBT issues.

Cashman, 62, gained international attention after he delivered the first gay kiss on British prime-time TV while starring in EastEnders. This sparked a record numbers of complaints but also many plaudits when his character Colin Russell kissed lover Barry Clark on the forehead in a 1987 episode of the programme.

Colin was the first homosexual character in the BBC soap, and his introduction caused huge controversy at a time when gay people were largely represented as camp figures of fun on TV.