The End of the Gay Rights Revolution: How Hubris and Overreach Threaten Gay Freedom

The gay rights movement in the West has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams.It is widely assumed that its victories are now secure. Ronan McCrea’s important new book argues that, in fact, the forces driving the advance of gay rights -such as the wider cultural shift towards greater sexual freedom - are weakening while political developments, cultural changes, and migration patterns mean that sources of opposition, both old and new, are gaining strength.The gay rights movement appears ill-equipped to meet this challenge.Rather than protecting the unprecedented freedom that has been won, campaigners have fallen prey to the assumption that they are on the winning side of history.This complacency has led the movement into hubris: expanding its aims and making new enemies while refusing to entertain the notion that elements of the gay rights revolution, such an over-prioritisation of sexual freedom, may be both political liabilities and impediments to the well-being of gay men. If the gay r