Letter: Our outrageous behaviour gave you the freedom to 'come out'

YOUR correspondents (Letters, 2 August) should pause and acknowledge that Peter Tatchell and OutRage] provided them with the space to air their uninteresting views. I was on the OutRage] demonstration and talked to two university professors, young film-makers and many others. Demonstration is one way to bring the issue of our second-class citizenship to notice. We all talk in pubs and make friends, but some of us - and all too few - stand up to be counted on the streets.

The young man who 'came out' at 16 (Real Life, 2 August) should look up his history. His good fortune to be able to do this was the gift of Gay Liberation Front's rowdy meetings and demonstrations, which created the space for a gay press, action groups, Gay Switchboard and the Out television series. They, and not the imperfect 1967 Act, changed our world for the better. It is the society he wishes to endorse that is awry in its attitudes, not the queer demonstrators.

Derek Jarman

London WC2