The Light of Day: The First Man to Come Out at the Dawn of Gay Liberation

’Your book is the ＂really good book. Just one＂ that Roger Butler would have wanted’ - Sir Ian McKellen

’Absorbing and often very moving’ - Peter Parker, Spectator

’Sir, we are homosexuals . . .’

So began the letter penned by Roger Butler and sent to several British newspaper editors - some of whom were so shocked they thought it was a hoax - in June 1960. Writing such a letter seven years before the decriminalisation of homosexuality was a radical and dangerous move. It was a risk that set a major milestone in the fight for gay rights - one that has been almost entirely forgotten.

This is the story of the first man to come out voluntarily, using his own name, to the entire British public, a decade before activists started petitioning gay people everywhere to ’come out proud’. Taking us through a criminalised underworld of gay pubs, parties and activist meetings, The Light of Day charts how Roger helped bring about the legalisation of homosexuality, but soon found himself marginalised from the movement he kickstarted after losing his sight in his early 30s.

Enter Christopher - a student asked to visit and read to an old, blind man at the beginning of a new century. As their intergenerational friendship bloomed, Roger came to trust Christopher with his most precious possession: memoirs of his revolutionary past, locked away in his home. After Roger’s death, Christopher opened a series of unsent letters, left in a pink folder, addressed to him. They contained Roger’s final wish, for Christopher finally to bring his remarkable, hidden story into the light of day.

’Remarkable . . . a splendidly sprawling part biography, part autobiography, part history and part social commentary . . . the result, a true account, benefits greatly from a lightness, a candour untethered to any agenda or argument’ - Times Literary Supplement

’Faithfully and beautifully told’ - Mail on Sunday

Christopher Stephens (Author)
Christopher Stephens is an academic based in south west London. He is also CEO of an educational charity that promotes research into issues of importance to contemporary society. He has published on a range of topics, from ancient church history to language and practices relating to diversity and inclusion. Christopher’s book The Light of Day made use of the extensive materials left to him by Roger Butler, the first man to come out as gay as a political act, and reflects on his shared life and friendship with Roger.

Louise Radnofsky (Author)
Louise Radnofsky is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Washington, D.C., where she has covered healthcare, the White House, immigration and, currently, sports. She holds two degrees in modern history from Oxford, where she attended University College, and one from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She and Christopher have been friends for more than 20 years.