ABSTRACT
During the 1980s, the new urban left was rendered toxic. It was reviled by the press, demonised by Conservative government minsters, denounced by Labour's leadership and viewed as a liability by a large part of the Labour movement. The issue that generated the greatest hostility towards the new urban left was sexuality. The new urban left's support of Gay Liberation in the 1980s challenged the liberal political bargain that had been struck in the 1960s. Although sex between gay men aged over twenty had been decriminalised in 1967, gays and lesbians had been denied the same legal entitlements as heterosexuals. The new urban left paid a heavy price for flouting prevailing views in both the press and public life. The environmentalism of the new urban left was less controversial than its feminism because green politics had significant minority right-wing as well as left-wing support in the 1980s.
