Allan was arguably the grandfather of the modern gay rights movement in Britain. He was first active for gay law reform in the late 1950s. In 1964, he founded Britain’s first ever grassroots, gay-led rights organisation, the Manchester-based North-West Homosexual Law Reform Committee, which became the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in 1971.
In the 1970s and 80s, CHE was the UK’s largest ever democratic, mass membership LGBT rights organisation, with several thousand members nationwide. Allan was President of CHE from 1974 until his death.
In 1997-98, Allan co-led the successful campaign to free the Bolton 7, who were facing jail for sex acts involving more than two men, under Britain’s antiquated, homophobic sex offence laws.
We all walk in Allan’s shadow. He was still campaigning for LGBT rights until a few months before he died. His activism spanned more than 50 years. He deserves a Queer State Funeral.
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An obituary from The Independent can be found here