Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain ― How the Personal Got Political

Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain demonstrates how gay activism can help us to fundamentally rethink the nature of post-war politics. While the left were fighting among themselves and the reformists were struggling with the limits of law reform, gay men started organizing. Culture, performance, and identity took over from economics and class struggle as gay men worked to change the world through the politics of sexuality. Robinson shows that gay men and their politics have been central to this change in the post-war world because people now feel that they can impact the world through the way in which they live, shop, have sex, and organize their private lives.

Lucy Robinson is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Sussex.