In the UK and elsewhere in the West, lesbian and gay rights have largely been won. Over the past two decades, rights to adoption, marriage, military service and workplace protection from discrimination have become law. Social inequality is another matter, and acceptance of same-sex relationships is now less widespread than it was ten years ago. According to Ronan McCrea, the author of The End of the Gay Rights Revolution, this can be explained – at least in part – by the political overreach of the LGBTQ movement.

Is McCrea self-hating, riddled with internalised homophobia? Could it be that the movement has demanded too much, over and above acceptance and tolerance? As the title suggests, the book is a critique of the overreach and demands of some of the more radical campaigns. It also highlights the cavalier attitude of some gay men who seem to think that because they have experienced oppression, liberation should mean doing whatever they want, regardless of the consequences.

A professor of constitutional and European law at University College, London, McCrea gives a meticulous account of how legislation has advanced gay rights and – especially more recently in the US – set them back. He also........

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