Ethel felt strongly about this partly because of her gay friend Robert. To Dave’s surprise his father, whom Dave considered an old stick-in-the-mud, was also passionately in favor of reforming the law. Apparently Lloyd had witnessed the Nazi persecution of homosexuals and had never forgotten it, although he refused to discuss the details.

Ethel would not speak in the debate—she was too ill for that—but she was determined to vote. And when Eth Leckwith was determined, there was no stopping her.

Dave pushed her along the entrance hall, which was a cloakroom, each coat hook having a pink ribbon loop on which members were supposed to hang their swords. The House of Lords did not even pretend to move with the times.

It was a crime in Britain for a man to have sex with another man, and every year hundreds of men who did so were prosecuted, jailed, and—worst of all—humiliated in the newspapers. The bill under discussion today would legalize homosexual acts by consenting adults in private.

The issue was controversial, and the bill was unpopular with much of the general public; but the tide was running in favor of reform. The Church of England had decided not to oppose a change in the law. They still said homosexuality was a sin, but they agreed it should not be a crime. The bill had a good chance, but its supporters feared a last-minute backlash—hence Ethel’s determination to vote.

Ethel asked Dave: “Why are you so keen to be the one who takes me to this debate? You’ve never shown much interest in politics.”

“Our drummer, Lew, is gay,” Dave said, using the American word. “I was with him once in a pub called the Golden Horn when the police raided it. I was so disgusted with the way the cops behaved that I’ve been looking, ever since, for a way to show that I’m on the side of the homosexuals.”

“Good for you,” Ethel said; then she added, with the waspishness characteristic of her later years: “I’m glad to see that the crusading spirit of your forebears hasn’t been entirely obliterated by rock and roll.”

Plum Nellie were more successful than ever. They had released a “concept album” called For Your Pleasure Tonight that pretended to be a recording of a show featuring groups of different kinds: old-time music hall, folk, blues, swing, gospel, Motown—all in fact Plum Nellie. It was selling millions all over the world.

A policeman helped Dave carry the wheelchair up a flight of steps. Dave thanked him, wondering whether he had ever raided a gay pub. They reached the Peers’ Lobby and Dave wheeled Ethel as far as the threshold of the debating chamber.

Ethel had planned this and got the agreement of the leader of the Lords to her appearing in her wheelchair. But Dave himself was not allowed to push her into the chamber, so they waited for one of her friends to notice her and take over.

The debate was already under way, with the peers sitting on red leather benches either side of a room whose decorations seemed ludicrously rich, like a palace in a Disney movie.