Sodom

Labour and lesbian and gay rights from Edward Carpenter to today

Peter Purton, Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 68 pages, £5.99

Alliances between lesbian and gay communities, left-wing and Labour Party activists and trade unionists have helped secure enormous legislative advances for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people in recent years.

This book describes the pioneering work of Edward Carpenter over a century ago to the upheavals, victories and setbacks of the second half of the 20th century. It provides a highly readable account of many of those events - including the creation of the labour campaign for lesbian and gay rights, the formation of lesbian and gay trade union groups and the battles of such groups to place full equality for LGB people at the heart of the labour movement.

The author concludes that these battles are far from over and concedes that "it is much easier to change laws than change society."