Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality

The Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality (TORCHE) was a British LGBT conservative organization. It was the first LGBT conservative organization in existence. In 1975, it was founded as the Conservative Group for Homosexual Equality (CGHE), also called GayCon, by Peter Walter Campbell. The Conservative Group for Homosexual Equality was a voluntary organization that lobbied the Conservative Party opinion in favour of gay rights and to provide a political balance within the gay movement. The group was revived in 1980, and a constitution drawn up and adopted on 28 March 1981, establishing an elected Executive Committee to oversee the running of the group. In 1991, the CGHE reconstituted at the Conservative Party Conference and renamed the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality. The organization would remain active til 2004 when it disbanded.