- Pronouns
- He/Him, They/Them
It's LGBT History Month in the UK, and I'm going to be throwing up some stuff on LGBT history, issues affecting the movement and highlighting key moments and events in the history of the movement, both in the UK and abroad. Feel free to add your own comments and discuss anything posted. This piece was also posted to my Medium page, which can be found here
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1986 was a section of legislation that stated “A local authority shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality, a local authority shall not promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”. Proposed first in the House of Lords by the Conservative peer and scientist Tony Gifford, the Earl of Halsbury, it was disrupted by the general election of 1987.
Instead it was picked up at the tail end of 1987 in the House of Commons by the Tory MPs Jill Knight and David Wilshere, the latter of whom introduced it as amendment to the then Local Government Bill of 1988, which was in committee stage. Narrowing and moderating amendments failed in both Houses when the ministers responsible for local government, the Michaels Howard and Portillo, supported the bill and it was adopted as law in May 1988, amidst protests by activists that included lesbian groups abseiling from the Public Gallery in the Commons and invading the BBC's Six O'Clock News, with one woman chaining herself to Sue Lawley's desk and being sat on by the newscaster Nicholas Witchell.
And this is one of the only positive effects Section 28 had. It galvanised a disparate and disorganised gay liberation movement in the UK, with groups such as Stonewall - named for the Inn and riots that launched the gay liberation movement in the US - and OutRage! forming in opposition to Section 28 and the wider assault on LGBTs by the Conservative government and the right wing press. The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said at the Conservative Party Conference in October 1987:
"Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay."
This gave the likes of Knight and Wilshere the prompting they needed to launch their legislation, and from 1988 to its repeal in 2003 Section 28 prevented in effect any discussion on homosexuality and LGBT issues as a whole both in schools and in any local governance. The fight against Section 28 led to new leading LGBT activists in the UK, most famously the actor Ian McKellen, who came out during a Third Ear, a programme on BBC Radio Three, debate with the journalist Peregrine Worsthorne. Worsthorne himself was conflicted on his own sexuality (later stating "I might well have been gay, but there was such pressure to be non-gay") which may have informed his anti-LGBT views at the time.
Section 28 had a significant effect both on the discourse and climate for LGBTs in the UK, and on how LGBT issues were approached in schools and in local governance. Hate crimes increased and persecution of homosexuals on the basis of so-called public decency laws and statutes were both commented upon even prior to the law coming into force - skinheads attacked gay actors who linked arms in the street and a gay couple were fined for kissing in public. Books including those detailing the persecution and extermination of LGBTs in Auschwitz were removed from libraries and the mere coverage of this fact was itself banned by Section 28 from being shown in any local authority building even prior to being seen by the public.
It is not surprising that this kind of censorship arose out of Section 28. Whilst there were no prosecutions under the law - as predicted by Michael Howard and others supporting the law as they desperately sought to soften the blow somehow - it had the effect of enforcing the self-censorship of teachers, civil servants and LGBTs in general. Gay activists were told they had brought the law on themselves by being "too noisy". Proponents of Section 28 said they had nothing against homosexuals and were just seeking to keep children safe from the 'promotion of homosexuality' that not a single member of government or Parliament could produce evidence of, but assured the House existed because they had read it in the Sun or Evening Standard.
In schools teachers initially reported that 'promotion of homosexuality' was unclear and during the 15 year period the law was in place (12 in Scotland) this was never properly defined, so teachers and schools did what the supporters of Section 28 wanted - they did not cover homosexuality, let alone transgender issues, at all. Even after Section 28's repeal in 2003, some schools are yet to introduce a curriculum sufficiently removed from Section 28 era sex education. In 2013 it was reported by the British Humanist Society that 45 schools had "clearly offensive" sex and relationships education policies or had policies that implied Section 28 was still in force. In London, it was reported in 2014 that just 1 in 10 primary school teachers were aware they could talk about issues related to gay people, with a majority of primary school teachers across the entire UK also believing that such discussion was banned.
This is an ongoing issue that organisations such as Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins Trust, alongside a variety of other LGBT organisations, are helping to deal with, but there is a long way to go before there is a sex and relationships education system in the UK that is fit for purpose. And efforts to build up an understanding and open policy are constantly under threat by new Jill Knights and David Wilsheres, who advocate a new Section 28 banning the teaching about transgender people in school and the 'promotion' of gender identity topics. It's a fight that ultimately they will lose, but a new Section 28 isn't something that is an improbability - we have a moralist government and they are backed by a more powerful right wing press than existed even back in the 80s.
The Telegraph and the Times have both attempted to manufacture the same kind of 'moral panic' that led to Section 28 with a string of anti-transgender articles in late 2017. The former paper ran a front page story about a gender identity question being included in a healthcare survey for school student, whilst the latter's coverage of a transwoman Labour activist led to the teenager involved being subjected to abuse and death threats after they covered her election as woman's officer in her local Labour party. The paper refused all right of reply for the teenager and declined to publish a letter from 55 members of the Labour Party's Jo Cox Women in Leadership program, of which Lily Madigan is a part.
Section 28's legacy continues to cast a shadow over LGBTs and the teaching of sex and relationship education in the UK even as the unstoppable march of progress continues. Gay marriage was passed by a government led by the Conservatives, whose leader David Cameron is amongst many who have apologised for Section 28 existing. LGBT rights continue to advance, and even reality shows like Celebrity Big Brother providing a platform for the discussion of LGBT issues with a number of LGBT contestants on the show in 2018.
The issues facing LGBTs are varied and nuanced, with some imposing and intimidating questions that need asking, but to quote Sir Ian McKellen from a speech on the eve of Section 28 coming into force, when told by a veteran activist that his work in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 had been in vain "there is no going back.". LGBTs and allies will face down attempts to walk back the progress gained in the 30 years since Section 28 was passed, and remembering the effects of Section 28 will be key in that.
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1986 was a section of legislation that stated “A local authority shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality, a local authority shall not promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”. Proposed first in the House of Lords by the Conservative peer and scientist Tony Gifford, the Earl of Halsbury, it was disrupted by the general election of 1987.
Instead it was picked up at the tail end of 1987 in the House of Commons by the Tory MPs Jill Knight and David Wilshere, the latter of whom introduced it as amendment to the then Local Government Bill of 1988, which was in committee stage. Narrowing and moderating amendments failed in both Houses when the ministers responsible for local government, the Michaels Howard and Portillo, supported the bill and it was adopted as law in May 1988, amidst protests by activists that included lesbian groups abseiling from the Public Gallery in the Commons and invading the BBC's Six O'Clock News, with one woman chaining herself to Sue Lawley's desk and being sat on by the newscaster Nicholas Witchell.
And this is one of the only positive effects Section 28 had. It galvanised a disparate and disorganised gay liberation movement in the UK, with groups such as Stonewall - named for the Inn and riots that launched the gay liberation movement in the US - and OutRage! forming in opposition to Section 28 and the wider assault on LGBTs by the Conservative government and the right wing press. The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said at the Conservative Party Conference in October 1987:
"Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay."
This gave the likes of Knight and Wilshere the prompting they needed to launch their legislation, and from 1988 to its repeal in 2003 Section 28 prevented in effect any discussion on homosexuality and LGBT issues as a whole both in schools and in any local governance. The fight against Section 28 led to new leading LGBT activists in the UK, most famously the actor Ian McKellen, who came out during a Third Ear, a programme on BBC Radio Three, debate with the journalist Peregrine Worsthorne. Worsthorne himself was conflicted on his own sexuality (later stating "I might well have been gay, but there was such pressure to be non-gay") which may have informed his anti-LGBT views at the time.
Section 28 had a significant effect both on the discourse and climate for LGBTs in the UK, and on how LGBT issues were approached in schools and in local governance. Hate crimes increased and persecution of homosexuals on the basis of so-called public decency laws and statutes were both commented upon even prior to the law coming into force - skinheads attacked gay actors who linked arms in the street and a gay couple were fined for kissing in public. Books including those detailing the persecution and extermination of LGBTs in Auschwitz were removed from libraries and the mere coverage of this fact was itself banned by Section 28 from being shown in any local authority building even prior to being seen by the public.
It is not surprising that this kind of censorship arose out of Section 28. Whilst there were no prosecutions under the law - as predicted by Michael Howard and others supporting the law as they desperately sought to soften the blow somehow - it had the effect of enforcing the self-censorship of teachers, civil servants and LGBTs in general. Gay activists were told they had brought the law on themselves by being "too noisy". Proponents of Section 28 said they had nothing against homosexuals and were just seeking to keep children safe from the 'promotion of homosexuality' that not a single member of government or Parliament could produce evidence of, but assured the House existed because they had read it in the Sun or Evening Standard.
In schools teachers initially reported that 'promotion of homosexuality' was unclear and during the 15 year period the law was in place (12 in Scotland) this was never properly defined, so teachers and schools did what the supporters of Section 28 wanted - they did not cover homosexuality, let alone transgender issues, at all. Even after Section 28's repeal in 2003, some schools are yet to introduce a curriculum sufficiently removed from Section 28 era sex education. In 2013 it was reported by the British Humanist Society that 45 schools had "clearly offensive" sex and relationships education policies or had policies that implied Section 28 was still in force. In London, it was reported in 2014 that just 1 in 10 primary school teachers were aware they could talk about issues related to gay people, with a majority of primary school teachers across the entire UK also believing that such discussion was banned.
This is an ongoing issue that organisations such as Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins Trust, alongside a variety of other LGBT organisations, are helping to deal with, but there is a long way to go before there is a sex and relationships education system in the UK that is fit for purpose. And efforts to build up an understanding and open policy are constantly under threat by new Jill Knights and David Wilsheres, who advocate a new Section 28 banning the teaching about transgender people in school and the 'promotion' of gender identity topics. It's a fight that ultimately they will lose, but a new Section 28 isn't something that is an improbability - we have a moralist government and they are backed by a more powerful right wing press than existed even back in the 80s.
The Telegraph and the Times have both attempted to manufacture the same kind of 'moral panic' that led to Section 28 with a string of anti-transgender articles in late 2017. The former paper ran a front page story about a gender identity question being included in a healthcare survey for school student, whilst the latter's coverage of a transwoman Labour activist led to the teenager involved being subjected to abuse and death threats after they covered her election as woman's officer in her local Labour party. The paper refused all right of reply for the teenager and declined to publish a letter from 55 members of the Labour Party's Jo Cox Women in Leadership program, of which Lily Madigan is a part.
Section 28's legacy continues to cast a shadow over LGBTs and the teaching of sex and relationship education in the UK even as the unstoppable march of progress continues. Gay marriage was passed by a government led by the Conservatives, whose leader David Cameron is amongst many who have apologised for Section 28 existing. LGBT rights continue to advance, and even reality shows like Celebrity Big Brother providing a platform for the discussion of LGBT issues with a number of LGBT contestants on the show in 2018.
The issues facing LGBTs are varied and nuanced, with some imposing and intimidating questions that need asking, but to quote Sir Ian McKellen from a speech on the eve of Section 28 coming into force, when told by a veteran activist that his work in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 had been in vain "there is no going back.". LGBTs and allies will face down attempts to walk back the progress gained in the 30 years since Section 28 was passed, and remembering the effects of Section 28 will be key in that.
