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Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has been called 'racist' and 'transphobic' by a student union officer ahead of a debate the pair were both invited to speak at. Fran Cowling, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representative for the National Union of Students(NUS), has refused to appear at Canterbury Christ Church University tomorrow, unless Mr. Tatchell does not attend. Ms. Cowling stated in emails to event organizers that she would not share the stage with Mr. Tatchell, because he signed an open letter in the Observer last year supporting free speech and against no-platforming, the practice by some universities to ban speakers because of their views. Speaking to the Observer, Mr. Tatchell, who will soon celebrate 50 years of campaigning for gay equality, called the incident another example of 'a witch-hunting, accusatory atmosphere' at university campuses today.

Australian-born Tatchell, 64, first sprang to fame as a left-wing Labour candidate, when he lost the party’s once safe Bermondsey seat in 1983. During the 1990s, he campaigned for LGBT rights through the direct action group he co-founded, OutRage! The group grabbed the headlines by outing establishment figures it claimed were homophobic in public and homosexual in private. In 1999 and 2001, he attempted a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his anti-gay stance, the latter resulting in a vicious beating by Mugabe's thugs. Six years later in 2007, Mr Tatchell was among dozens of people assaulted by Russians shouting 'death to homosexuals' against protesters demanding the right to hold a gay pride parade in Moscow. The veteran campaigner says both these incidents have left him with lasting brain injuries.

Unafraid to put across his point of view, Mr. Tatchell said he would share the stage with Ms. Cowling at tomorrow's event, despite their difference of opinion. He said: 'I'm prepared to share a platform with people I profoundly disagree with, precisely in order to challenge and expose them.' The NUS said Tatchell had not been 'no-platformed' by the entire union and that Ms Cowling's decision whether to appear is her own.