David Rayside is a gay activist who has been around long enough to see what works and what doesn’t. As a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, he has developed an academic framework to analyze and dissect the work of other activists as they attempt to influence political and legal systems that present barriers to gays and lesbians.

Rayside’s On the Fringe is a dissection of the role of gays and lesbians in the politics of Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. It’s also part of the growing field of gay and lesbian studies and research in the social sciences and humanities at North American universities. These academic courses and the research behind them have explored the history and geography, sociology and literature, politics and even religion of what it is to be lesbian and gay. Perhaps to prove the legitimacy of their specialized research, queer academics often produce dense and inaccessible tracts.

Rayside avoids this trap. His book offers clear analysis and distinct lessons from some of the major recent civil rights battles to take place in the three most important English-speaking nations of the northern hemisphere.

Rayside does this by clearly situating the rights battles within the political, cultural, and judicial systems particular to each country. Through an examination of available literature, along with personal interviews with activists, politicians, and others, Rayside deconstructs the particulars of both successful and unsuccessful efforts to legislate gay rights.

Recognizing that individual politicians can be catalysts for change, he examines the political lives of three politicians: Chris Smith of Great Britain, Barney Frank of the U.S., and Canada’s Svend Robinson, whose political activist style he seems most impressed by.

Rayside offers an accessible look at recent gay and lesbian political history and one that places the struggle for queer rights firmly within the family of new social movements including environmentalism, First Nations justice, and the struggle against racism. It also does not pretend to offer unwarranted optimism; so much yet remains unaccomplished. Gays and lesbians remain at the edges of society.