The collective espoused radical leftist politics, influenced by thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci, Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault, and by the successes of the gay rights and feminist movements.
[4] The journal published by the collective, Gay Left, combined theoretical articles with reviews and political reports.
Gays in film formed a continuous theme following a ground- breaking article by Richard Dyer in GL 2, with regular reviews (for example, of Rainer Werner Fassbinder (GL 2)), and coverage of Ron Peck's attempts to make his film, Nighthawks (Peck was then a member of the collective and other members were involved in the film making).
Gay Left's contributors included many experienced activists, particularly in the field of feminism, education and workplace politics.
(possibly after the famous pamphlet of the same name by Vladimir Lenin) and edited and wrote chapters for a book published by Allison and Busby in 1980 titled Homosexuality, Power and Politics.