New equality laws mark another major step in protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination. Coming after a series of landmark reforms, is the job now done for gay rights campaigners?
It is not as photogenic as its predecessor, which was hailed with showers of confetti and kisses on town hall steps.

But the Equality Act, coming 16 months after civil partnerships made the headlines, could later be judged as equally significant, at least in its symbolism.

It is not a piece of legislation welcomed by all and it was bitterly opposed by parts of the Catholic Church. But it marks the last of a series of major legal reforms which have transformed the treatment of homosexuality by the state.

THE EQUALITY ACT

• bans discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief or sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, the management of premises, education and the exercise of public functions


• establishes the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to replace existing commissions governing race, disability and equal opportunities
  As well as civil partnerships, there has been a lowering of the age of consent and the repeal of Section 28, which prevented councils and schools from intentionally promoting homosexuality

Although gay rights campaigning is older than we thought - a document discovered last week reveals written protests as early as 1749 - the speed of change in the last 10 years is unprecedented.

And last year Sir Ian McKellen remarked that the EuroPride march, once a strong political statement urging equality, had instead become a "celebration".

So does this act mark the end of the road for gay rights campaigning?

"It's one of the final jigsaw pieces to put in place," says Angela Eagle, one of the few openly lesbian MPs. But there are a few reforms required "round the edges", she adds, such as harsher sentences for violence targeting homosexuals and women.

Sexual 'apartheid'

The journey of the gay rights movement from fringe to political mainstream is neatly reflected by the career of Peter Tatchell, who began protesting in the UK in 1971 and is now preparing to stand as parliamentary candidate for the Green Party.

"We've overturned nearly all the homophobic legal discrimination in the last decade," he says. "The gay rights movement has been one of the most successful law reform movements of all time."

More than 30 years ago, the focus was on police harassment, the medical classification of homosexuality as a disease and pubs that refused to serve gays and lesbians.

LANDMARK LAWS

• 1999: Ban lifted on serving in Armed Forces


• 2001: Age of consent made 16


• 2002: Same-sex couples can adopt


• 2003: Repeal of Section 28


• 2005: Civil partnerships


• 2007: Equality laws

Things have moved quickly since but there's still plenty to do, says Mr Tatchell, not least fixing the "sexual apartheid" which stops gay people from getting married and heterosexual couples from civil partnerships.

Other outstanding issues include addressing injustice for asylum seekers fleeing homophobic persecution and punishing homophobic reggae singers and Muslim clerics who openly advocate the murder of gay people but escape prosecution, he says.

But changing the law isn't everything, he says, because there are still bastions of homophobia such as sport and business.

Michael Cashman MEP, who co-founded Stonewall in 1988 with Ian McKellen and Douglas Slater, says: "Just because we have achieved equality doesn't mean we pack up and go home."

Laws can be changed suddenly, he says, and there is still homophobia within religious organisations and a rising tide of prejudice in eastern Europe.