'LGBT rights must be defended with all our might'

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Tom Robinson's well-known hit, Glad To Be Gay

LGBT rights fought for and won must be defended "with all our might", veteran songwriter, broadcaster and activist Tom Robinson has said.

In an interview on the BBC's Out With Kathy show, the 75-year-old reflected on his school days where "nobody was out and open" and a society that is now largely more embracing.

Robinson, who is set to start a 26-date UK tour in the coming months, is widely accepted as a queer icon, committed to the advancement of LGBT rights.

"I never, ever expected we would come as far as we have...[but] we have to defend it with all our might and main...to prevent it slipping back," he said.

Robinson, born in Cambridge in 1950, first fell in love with a boy at the age of 15 while at boarding school.

He said: "At that time, because gay men went to prison for four years, there weren't any role models.

"Nobody was out and open, and telling you you could have a happy life."

While this is how he identified for some years, Robinson went on to meet future wife Sue Brearley at an LGBT charity event. The couple have been together for 35 years.

The person he wanted to spend his life with "very inconveniently" happened to be a woman, he joked.

Robinson says he "shifted from G to B" - gay to bisexual - but the tabloid press framed it as "he's gone straight".

This caused some tension in the LGBT community and Robinson recalls being booed at a Pride event.

At the time, before the internet, he couldn't outline his position publicly, which he says led to a "period of misunderstanding".

However, things changed in 1994 when "suddenly, there was a bisexual stage at Pride on Clapham Common".

Robinson was invited back for the first time in five years, something he admits felt like a "homecoming" where "fluid sexuality" was celebrated.

"That was the true spirit that I remember from the early [19]70s...of the early [19]70s Gay Liberation Front," he said.

Glad to be Gay

Glad to be Gay, one of Robinson's best known songs, marks its 50th anniversary next year.

Originally written for a London Gay Pride parade in 1976, Robinson admits he "never expected to be around to see it [the anniversary]".

Not only is he around, but Robinson is set to head back out on tour - an experience he said he was "really looking forward to".

He said: "One of the advantages of only having had a handful of hits is that you can play all of them and people come away perfectly happy."

While Robinson has been involved in big band tours, he loves the "intimacy" of playing smaller venues.

'Stand with your allies'

While clear that there are still "difficulties for everybody coming out", Robinson sees a society where role models and representation are much more visible now.

He said he believed that those who hate people from the LGBT community are the same as those who are prejudiced against other minority groups.

"You've got to really stand with your allies against your common enemies," he added.

Kathy Caton's Out with Kathy is released at 21:00 BST on Wednesday evenings across the south and south-east of England.