Peter Tatchell: "The focus now is on winning hearts and minds"

That's the message from Peter Tatchell as we sit in a bus stop in School Street, Wolverhampton.

Admittedly, not the most conventional setting for an interview.

But then Tatchell, the revered figurehead for gay rights in the UK, doesn't really do the conventional.

This is a man who has twice tried to perform a citizen's arrest on Robert Mugabe – receiving a vicious beating in the process – publicly confronted BNP leader Nick Griffin and taken on authority figures and governments around the world in a bid for equality.

What's also perhaps unconventional is the scene in front of us – hundreds of people of all genders, ages and sexual orientations freely and openly celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) culture at the annual Wolverhampton Pride event, which is now in its third year.

Such a scene was perhaps unimaginable 20 years ago.

A fiercely traditional, largely industrial town such as Wolverhampton now has men dressed as women, men holding hands with other men and women kissing women, all in a sea of colour, dance and music.

Tatchell admits that he is pleasantly taken aback by the way Wolverhampton has taken the event to its heart with almost 4,000 people attending this year's festival – double last year's number.

"I've been surprised and gratified to see the way in which Wolverhampton has embraced and endorsed our Pride celebrations," he said.

"Wolverhampton Pride is partly a celebration of the contribution that LGBT people make to the city and partly about the ongoing battle for equal rights. Across Britain we've made huge progress in the last decade or so with every major anti-gay law being repealed, culminating in the legalisation of same sex marriage. But there's still unfinished business."

You get the impression that for Tatchell there will always be unfinished business. While Britain may be seen as an accepting country, and indeed at the forefront of LGBT culture worldwide, there is still a lot of progress to be made.

More than half of LGBT people say they were bullied at school. One third have been victims of homophobic hate crime. While 85 per cent of youngsters say they receive no gay sex education or information about safer sex. Tatchell is well aware of the problems: "Since 1999 the focus has been on law reform to get rid of the many discriminatory laws which once denied gay people equality.

"There's now a big push to ensure that schools crack down on homophobic and transphobic bullying and educate young people to be more understanding and accepting of sexual differences."

And that's just in Britain. Across the world the challenge is a far greater one.

An alarming statistic which surfaced during the recent Commonwealth Games was that in 42 of the 53 Commonwealth countries, homosexuality is illegal.

In parts of two of them – Pakistan and Nigeria – gay people can be sentenced to death.

In the face of such pure hatred, such vilification, such deep-seated hostility towards homosexuality, how on earth does Tatchell keep himself motivated to win the LGBT battle?

His answer is as heartwarming as it is noble. "I just love other people," he said. "And I love to see other people happy. When I see someone suffering I put myself in their shoes.

"I wouldn't want it to happen to me so why should I tolerate it happening to them? I defend everyone who's been unjustly treated. whether it's because of homophobia, transphobia, racism – it's all one."

Tatchell was born in Australia and moved to England in 1971, immediately becoming a prominent gay rights campaigner and, later, a politician who became embroiled in a bitter by-election as a Labour Party candidate, losing out to Liberal Simon Hughes amid slurs about his homosexuality.

Since then his campaigning has been relentless and it has taken him across the globe. He's been arrested, ambushed Mike Tyson, stood side by side with Stephen Fry, led countless protest marches and attended even more LGBT celebrations like Wolverhampton Pride.

One look at the Peter Tatchell Foundation website tells you all you need to know about the vast number of issues he is fighting for.

Listed are 27 subject headings – animal rights, social justice, free speech, disability rights, multiculturalism, health, democracy, criminal injustice – the list goes on.

Confronting Mugabe and Griffin, spearheading the gay rights movement, tirelessly campaigning for equality for more than four decades – Tatchell is a hero to millions.

But, as you might expect, he's modest with it. "I've done my bit, but so have many others," he says. "There are tens of thousands of unsung heroes across Britain who do tireless work to make our society better."

At the age of 62 many would forgive Tatchell for slowing down. But his appetite for equality is insatiable.

Far from shying away, he's now embarking on what could be his greatest challenge yet. "I don't know of a single mosque in Britain which opens its doors to gay Muslims. That's wrong," he says. Gays and Muslims Unite – Fight All Hate – will see Tatchell reach out to Muslim community leaders in a bid to encourage more acceptance.