Tom Robinson - Glad To Be Gay (Ormskirk, 21 May 2016)

Recorded live at the Rose Theatre, Ormskirk, 21 May 2016. Apologies for the poor quality and contrasty phone footage.
Tom Robinson adopted a storyteller format for his 2016 'Home In The Morning' tour, setting the personal and social context around the songs and playing truncated versions.
Before playing Glad To Be Gay he discusses the overwhelming institutional oppression of LGBT people in the 1970s, and cites the case of Peter Wells. A verse about Wells featured in the original 1976 version of the song but had been cut for length by the time it was first released 18 months later.
He reinstated the verse for a performance at the Amnesty International 'Secret Policeman's Ball' benefit concert in June 1979, partly as a protest at Amnesty refusing to recognise people convicted of LGBT offences as political prisoners. Apart from that, it was not performed between 1976 and this tour in 2016.
Peter Wells was imprisoned in 1974 for having an 18 year old boyfriend. From his prison cell he launched a pioneering legal case that paved the way for equality. Unfortunately, he wouldn't live to see the liberty that he'd helped to win. Listen to Tom Robinson read the audiobook The Story About Peter Wells:
• The Story About Peter ...
For more info about the song (including downloads and streaming audio of all released versions), plus background material about Peter Wells visit gladtobegay.net/

[@gherkamum]

Great video Tom.