As chief executive of Stonewall, he succeeded Director Angela Mason in early 2003, expanding its work from parliamentary lobbying into other fields including workplace equality and campaigning against homophobia in schools. He led successful campaigns for the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, the introduction of Civil Partnership for lesbian and gay people in the UK and the introduction in 2007 of protections against discrimination in the provision of "goods and services", covering areas from healthcare and housing to hotels and holidays. He also led a successful parliamentary campaign in 2007–08 for introduction of a criminal offence of incitement to homophobic hatred and a campaign in 2009–10 to enable gay people to celebrate civil partnerships in religious premises. He also restored Stonewall to financial good health after a number of very precarious years. (Its turnover was £1.4m in 2003, during which it ran a deficit of £117,000, and £5.3m by 2014, with reserves having risen from £11,000 in 2003 to £3.2m and staff numbers rising from 21 to 75.)