'The Light of Day' puts Roger Butler into his proper place as a gay rights pioneer and advocate. Butler came out in the British press when so many gay men were afraid of the repercussions. Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnofsky have created a hybrid work: part biography of Butler and part memoir of Stephens' relationship with Butler. Stephens grew close to an older Butler, and he connects his life to what he learned from Butler. I found 'The Light of Day' a fascinating and engrossing read. It is maddening though that so much of gay history has been kept from us. Everyone should know about Roger Butler, and this is a wonderful way of introducing Roger Butler to readers.

I hadn't heard of Roger Butler before but this book was so compelling. Showing the courage of Roger and showed the power of friendships, resilience and activism.

A biography quite unlike any other. When Christopher Stephens takes the place of a friend, reading to an older blind man on Regent Street in East Oxford, he has no idea at first that the man who he reads to did something extraordinary. At a time when the sexualities of many were 'open secrets,' Roger Butler was the first man in England, along with two of his friends, to 'come out,' as himself, writing an open letter beginning 'Sir, we are homosexuals.' After a few gins and bottles of wine, a friendship between the two develops and Roger starts to reveal all the letters and writings he kept, which he eventually entrusts entirely to Christopher. It's quite a legacy, and a burden, that has resulted in this extraordinary book.

Roger's story is extraordinary, covering how:

- he managed to navigate a world for the sighted when he himself was first partially sighted and then, after two nightmarish operations, not at all
- how he studied at Oxford in his thirties with very little provisions made for him at first as a blind student, but how he fell in love with the place and refused to leave when his studies unsurprisingly wobbled, getting his degree with the help of one proactive tutor and a circle of friends
- how he taught himself Braille and learned to work with a guide dog, at first reluctantly and then falling in love with the dog (named Gay)!
- and, later in life, how his relationship with Christopher gave him more to live for than the cloistered existence he'd become used to. It's not often you find a biographer saying 'I loved him,' but when Stephens says it, you absolutely know it to be true.

Co-written with journalist Louise Radnofsky, glimpses of the friendship between the two authors - both gay, and the biological parents of Louise's child - are a sustained delight throughout the book, but this is Roger's story, and one that I'm sure he'd be so proud of.

The Light of Day is a beautiful book - part memoir, part biography, part social history. I wasn’t aware of Roger Butler or his brave stance of coming out in the national press following the Wolfenden report but years before homosexuality was legalised- I feel I should have known about his belief that when the public know that normal people they know are gay they will understand better and not demonise - I knew about the same approach led by Harvey Milk in the USA in the 70s but not my own country which feels slightly shameful.
This book explores that period in the 1960s, but is increasingly moving as it covers Roger’s loss of sight and subsequently going up to Oxford, facing the challenges of losing not just his sight, but so much of what brought him pleasure - reading, art, architecture etc. Combined with his disappointment in terms of maintaining a romantic and sexual relationship, you could draw a very sad conclusion. However, the support and companionship of Christopher Stephens, who writes movingly of his friendship and support to Roger, brings clear light to the last years of Roger’s life, and Christopher’s realisation of this through archiving Roger’s papers after his death is incredibly moving.

In many ways Roger reminds me of a late friend of mine, and this may have increased the sympathy and sense of attachment - but there is real humanity and courage here that any reader will find.

It's a rare pleasure to read a book like this, written from the heart, a true labour of love. It's poignant, heartbreaking and heartwarming, and I applaud the honesty and integrity of the authors.
This is a book about a man who started a revolution. He didn't use guns and bullets, and the only armour he wore was his own belief in what he was fighting for: homosexual equality. His only weapon: words. Words that spoke up for homosexual rights at a time when homophobia was not just rife but sex between two men - even in the privacy of their own home - was an imprisonable offence. Homosexual love had to be hidden, lied about.
Roger Butler started the ball rolling for all the campaigns for gay rights that followed but his name is almost forgotten.
The book is at its best when Christopher Stephens shares memories of his time with Roger, in Oxford, when he was old and blind. A powerful evocation of friendship and love.