Following the passing of a number of non-discrimination policies on the grounds of sexuality in the late 1980s, the council was pioneering work in the advancement of lesbian and gay rights with a HIV/AIDS unit, sympathetic press and marketing officers like Chris Payne and Tony Cross, an Equality Group which appointed lesbians and gay men as officers - including Paul Fairweather, Marcus Woolley, Chris Root, Maggie Turner, Terry Waller and Mark Ovenden - to key departments like Libraries, Children's Services and Housing and much official emphasis was placed on strengthening the community element of the Village.