Dear Eva Gore-Booth,

I am writing to you to express my enormous admiration for you in your life and work fighting for gay rights and living with your partner Esther Roper.

When I realised I was a lesbian over 40 years ago it felt very difficult to find any relevant information to make a choice so I cannot imagine how it must have been for you, falling in love with Esther and then bravely deciding to leave your family home and moving in to the house in Rusholme.

Also I am full of admiration for your and Esther’s work for homosexual rights at a time when it was a criminal offence to be a gay man let alone to have any kind of sex life. It was pioneering and revolutionary and should be celebrated much more now in the 21st century than it currently is.

You and Esther’s example of two women living and working together is a model for us all to follow and I am sorry I didn’t know your story when I was hungrily looking for any role models before I finally came out in 1981.

So thank you, Eva, for everything you did for women and for lesbians.

With love from

Lizzie Gent