I had walked in Gays the Word bookshop, near Russell Square, to find myself face to face with the young, purple haired writer and activist, Ellen Jones. Her purple hair and my purple jacket combined in one of those fated, had to happen moments as I was also drawn to the title of her book.
Outrage! was one of those 1990s direct action groups founded by Peter Tatchell amongst others. They campaigned for various things not excluding a request for the Danish government to invade the UK as the Danes had far more ‘relaxed’ LGBTQ+ legislation than the UK at that time.
After a brief chat, I bought a signed copy and headed off to Five Guys. She started the book with a quote, ‘If you’re queer and you’re not angry in 1992, you’re not paying attention…’ the quote came from Michael Cunningham, the actor, writer and activist at that time for another direct-action group dedicated to the fight against AIDS, Act-Up!
The book I was holding in my hands has little to do with the history of either Act-Up or Outrage. It builds from the quote about all of the things that are still wrong, still unequal, things where the straight world does not even seem to understand. How this has a negative impact on the mental health, physical health and welfare of my LGBTQI+ peers in 2025.
She highlights how so soon after Keir Starmer‘s Labour Party has finally won power, the hopes of a new era of revised equality already feels long gone. The fact that Starmer has pulled back on trans equality and Streeting has extended the bans on puberty blockers is enough for her to set the scene.
She sounds guilty at having to write such an ‘angry‘ book as early as page 6. I can see the connection with quote, the word outrage, and why she is right to feel angry. She reignites the anger I felt in my youth, marching against Thatcher, Section 28, for Gay and Lesbian equality and to preserve the right to work and of people in the workplace.
From the reasons why gay marriage does not mean equal marriage through to health inequalities. How these lead to early death, and in some cases the suicides of LGBTQI+ young people that had felt so badly treated they feel unable and unwilling to carry on living. These two things are enough to get angry about, but she is far from finished.
She explains carefully, in clear simple tones. Explaining why those that campaign against trans people and the treatment they feel they need are wrong. and why this must not be withdrawn, in a way that should humble the most anti-trans TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and JK Rowling should be able to understand and accept.
She talks of refugees running scared for their lives from regimes that would kill them. Kill them for loving what they consider to be the wrong person in the wrong way, and how hard it is to prove they have a right to be running from the threat of death. She rails against the elitist politicians who seem hell bent on making life even harder for the desperate and the dispossessed.
Just 2% of the refugees claim sexual orientation as part of their asylum claims, yet at least half of those will be rejected because they cannot prove they are ’gay’ or ’gay enough‘. Having been rejected on that basis they may be sent back to their deaths.
Page after page she highlights inequalities around parental rights, education, religion and many other areas of ordinary life for ordinary people and how these do not only affect the LGBTQI+ people themselves, but how it affects their children, their parents, their siblings and their friends. How it results in mental trauma, illness, stigma and suicide.
The book highlights how these inequalities deprive LGBTQI+ people, but they also deny the elderly, the disabled, single people, children, the divorced and many other social groups and minorities. With the rolling back of LGBTQ+ rights in both the USA and UK This book gives strength to the argument that the fight for rights for minority groups is not over. We should be ready to protest and to make sure our voices are loudly heard by those in power. We are not a gimmick for winning elections by populist means.
