How Sectn 28 birthed the morn gay rights movement | Huck

Contents:

• THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
• THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO BE GAY: THE LEGACY OF CLSE 28
• HOW SECTN 28 BIRTHED TODAY’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY RIGHTS

THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE

The legislatn meant that uncils were prohibed om fundg of books, plays, leaflets, films, or other materials showg same-sex relatnships, while teachers weren’t allowed to teach about gay relatnships schools.

In the n-up to the 1987 general electn, they issued posters claimg that the Labour Party wanted LGBT+ iendly books like Young, Gay and Proud and The Milkman’s on His Way to be read schools. Jt before the general electn of 1987, the Earl of Halsbury troduced the Lol Government Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill, also known as an act to rea lol thori om promotg homosexualy. In effect, this meant that uncils were prohibed om fundg of books, plays, leaflets, films, or other materials showg same-sex relatnships, while teachers weren’t allowed to teach about gay relatnships schools.

THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO BE GAY: THE LEGACY OF CLSE 28

This clse – the first anti-gay legislatn to be troduced the UK for 100 years – was the Conservative ernment’s vrlic and tradnalist rponse to lls for equaly om lbian and gay rights activists  the late 1980s.

Sign up for the View om Wtmster email for expert analysis straight to your boxGet our ee View om Wtmster emailToday marks 30 years sce Margaret Thatcher's Conservative ernment troduced s highly ntroversial Sectn 28 clse, part of the Lol Government Act 1988, banned the "promotn" of homosexualy by lol thori and Bra's schools. Councils were meanwhile forbidn om stockg librari wh lerature or films that ntaed gay or lbian them, forcg young people to look elsewhere for tnal material, fdg solace novels like Jeate Wterson's Orang Are Not the Only F (1985) and the posive exampl set by the era's "out" or androgyno pop stars. Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference, June 1987 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty)Activists also stormed the BBC on 23 May 1988, handcuffg themselv to a TV mera and disptg a broadst of The Six O'Clock News prented by Sue Lawley and Nicholas Manchter, more than 20, 000 people marched agast Sectn 28 while the actor Ian McKellen me out publicly for the first time orr to voice his Thatcher, rponsible for the first new homophobic law to be troduced a century, had voiced her opposn to gay rights at the 1987 Conservative Party Conference Blackpool.

HOW SECTN 28 BIRTHED TODAY’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

"She was embolned to exprs her prejudice by a rise homophobia exacerbated by the AIDS/HIV crisis and s hostile verage the right-wg tabloid Tori palised on this sentiment that same year's electn mpaign, suggtg that Labour was tent on seeg pro-LGBT+ books tght school, a powerful piece of rhetoric at a time when the 75 per cent of the populatn believed homosexualy was "always or mostly wrong", acrdg to a ntemporary Brish Social Attus survey. Sectn 28 marked a disturbg backwards step for tolerance and clivy after the stris ma by the Brish LGBT+ movement sce the crimalisatn of male homosexualy 1967, a surge of progrs that had seen activists fe allianc wh Labour unns and the Natnal Unn of Meworkers, as picted the film Pri (2014), and the electn of Margaret Roff, Bra's first "out" lbian mayor, Manchter pernic fluence of the clse unqutnably played a huge role legimisg hate and rercg playground homophobia and bullyg, monisg LGBT+ children and ensurg many stayed imprisoned the closet for fear of social reprisals or clse endured until was repealed Stland on 21 June 2001 and the rt of the UK on 18 November lear and later PM David Cameron apologised for Sectn 28 as a "mistake" on 1 July timely passg arguably reprented a watershed moment for LGBT+ rights Bra and marked progrs has sce been ma, a procs facilated by the emergence of Twter as a platform for cultivatg more sensive attus towards qutns of reprentatn and diversy. You would be hard prsed to fd a recent Brish law more ntroversial and more reviled than sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act the late 80s, the gay and lbian people of the UK were loudly mandg equaly, much to the chagr of tradnalists.

Sectn 28 was the Conservative ernment’s rponse; Margaret Thatcher’s answer to those who believed “they have an alienable right to be gay” vaguely word law prohibed lol thori and schools om “promotg” homosexualy and prevented uncils om fundg much-need lbian and gay iativ. At a time when gay people were stgglg to pe wh the Aids epimic, was a llo attempt to supprs an already margalised Conservative policians, sectn 28 was an easy, short-term w.

GAY RIGHTS

’ Photograph: Joel GoodmanAt the time that sectn 28 was beg discsed parliament, I was one of Manchter cy uncil’s gay men’s officers, workg on issu such as employment, service livery and velopg muny groups. I had also helped to set up the North Wt Campaign for Lbian and Gay Equaly, the group rponsible for orchtratg the Manchter had a secret office the town hall attic where more than 100 people would meet every week. The gay scene was que small and I knew the owners of the lol venu went to the gay bars and clubs – such as New Unn, Rembrandt, the Thompsons Arms and Napoleon – where the owners agreed to stop the mic so that we uld speak about the march and sectn 28.

Twenty thoand turned up for the march, and revalised the gay movement the TempleOn 23 May 1988, the eveng before sectn 28 me to force, lbian activists stormed the BBC News stud where Sue Lawley was midway through the Six O’Clock News. It had the date of the London march agast and I knew that, as a gay man playg another on televisn, I had to be there or I uld never look at myself the mirror aga. What was brilliant, though, was that my school turned out to be 100% supportive and that I had the support of straight teachers and the Hargey branch of the Natnal Unn of Teachers, which always stood up for gay teachers natnally.

And, of urse, had a terrible effect on young people: stunts suffered homophobic abe silence and teachers and schools did nothg about sectn 28 ma me more ut, however, didn’t stop me om takg up issu to do wh sexual liberatn or equaly. I remember one stunt dog a prentatn on the difference between HIV and Aids to dispel the myths about the ia was a “gay plague”, which ed major tert among the stunts.