Clse 28 of the Lol Government Act (1988) prohibed ‘promotg’ homosexualy. Ristance to formed part of wir nsolidatn of support for gay rights. The song clus an impersonatn of Margaret Thatcher (addrsed directly as ‘Iron Lady’). A rap by MC L-Dog mak nnectns to AIDS, NHS unrfundg, the distguishabily of polil parti and the clampg of rs. Sectn 28 was repealed England 2003; wheel clampg on private land was banned 2012; the NHS remas unrfund.
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
* clause 28 gay rights *
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.
THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO BE GAY: THE LEGACY OF CLSE 28
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. 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.
HOW SECTN 28 BIRTHED TODAY’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
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.
GAY RIGHTS
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.