idlesuperstar:

Preston’s account of the fight to decriminalize male homosexuality in Britain is especially enjoyable. In this story the hero is Lord Arran, the quirky peer who moved the bill in the House of Lords. On the rare occasions that the eighth earl, Boofy to his friends, had previously spoken in the House, it was to advocate for the rights of badgers. He and his wife, a champion powerboat racer, allowed badgers to roam freely in their home in Hemel Hempstead, “and always wore gumboots indoors to stop their ankles from being bitten.” Nevertheless, Arran was driven by the memory of his gay elder brother, who had committed suicide days after succeeding to the title. Later, after a successful but bruising legislative battle, Arran was asked why homosexual law reform had passed while badgers were still unprotected. “He paused,” Preston reports, “and then said ruminatively, ‘There are not many badgers in the House of Lords.’ ” [x]