No Bath But Plenty of Bubbles: An Oral History of the Gay Liberation Front, 1970-1973

The Gay Liberation Front dragged homosexuality out of the closet, onto the streets and into the public eye. Its London supporters held the first gay demonstrations, organized the first Pride march and ran the first public gay dances in Britain. The Front contained an alliance of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transsexuals long before 'queer' was fashionable, and challenged homophobia before we had a word for it. Their direct action and street theatre were the envy of the rest of the revolutionary counterculture, their politics the most diverse, their communes the wildest and their arguments the loudest. In two short years, the Gay Liberation Front created the conditions for a lesbian and gay movement for generations to come and then imploded into fragments that became our newspapers, helplines and activist groups. Lisa Power has gathered the accounts of people who were there, the papers they wrote and the comments of bemused bystanders. She tells the previously unheard stories of the London Gay Liberation Front; of the sisters and brothers who created a brave and resourceful movement out of little but their own will and imagination and who gave us pride and anger and ideals.