Leo Abse

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Leo Abse
Leo Abse (Leopold Abse, 1917–2008) was a Welsh lawyer, Labour politician and gay rights campaigner.

He was born in Cardiff and studied at the London School of Economics. He became a solicitor and served on Cardiff City Council. He was Labour MP for Pontypool from 1958 to 1983, and for Torfaen from 1983 to 1987. In 1963 he introduced a private members bill that simplified the divorce law.

In 1962 he began pushing for a bill to implement the provisions of the Wolfenden Report and this eventually bore fruit as the Sexual Offences Act 1967. His ally for homosexual law reform in the House of Lords was the Eighth Earl of Arran Sir Arthur Strange Kattendyke David Archibald Gore.

He wrote a number of books, including Fellatio, Masochism, Politics and Love (Robson Books, London, 1997) and The bi-sexuality of Daniel Defoe: a psychoanalytic survey of the man and his works (Karnac Books, London, 2006).