Section 28

The BBC describes section 28 as “a law passed in 1988 by a Conservative government that stopped councils and schools promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”

The legislation came about because the HIV and AIDS crisis saw an increase in homophobia. HIV and Aids diseases began to appear in the world in 1981 and the media during the 1980s often produced rhetoric that said gay men were responsible for the diseases because it was believed it mainly effected them. The British social attitudes survey found that homophobia grew during the 1980s. For example, the survey found in 1983 50% of British people believed homosexuality was always wrong but by 1987 this had gone up to 64% of British people.

During the 1980s books were brought into schools showing alternative family relationships. The media produced stories on these books suggesting homosexuality was being pushed on children One of these books was called Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin. The Sun produced a story about this book with the headline “vile books in schools”. In 1987 Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister, gave a speech saying children should be taught moral values and if children were being taught they had a right to be the gay then the children were being cheated. Lord Michael Cashman, one of the founders of Stonewall, the gay rights charity, has said Section 28 was brought in during a period where gay people were stigmatised, and it was “designed to kick us firmly underground”.

The act impacted local government because it stopped local government organisations from providing support and services for LGBTQ+ people. One part of the wording for section 28 says “to prohibit the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities”. All organisations within a council had to follow this, for example departments like social care or schools. As a result, LGBTQ+ youth support groups across the UK ended. Councils stopped producing material such as films, leaflets and posters that demonstrated same sex relationships. Teachers could not give gay and lesbian children advice on relationships.

The consequences of Section 28 were that gay and lesbian people suffered discrimination. For example, Owen Richard Farrow was bullied at school for being LGBTQ+ during the period Section 28 was in force. The teachers did not stop the bullying because they thought Section 28 made it illegal to stop it. Gay and lesbian children were prevented from seeing LGBTQ+ relationships and lifestyles presented positively, and this prevented them from seeing people and relationships they could identify with. LGBTQ+ people had no one in local government or schools they could turn to for support and advice. Matthew Todd in his book Straight Jacket found that “patterns of low self-esteem and self-destructive behaviour are more common in the LGBTQ+ community than they should be” and he believes Section 28 contributed significantly to this. Simon Marks, who works at a drug and alcohol service for LGBTQ+ people called Antidote, has found “A big part of the problematic drug use that we are seeing now is because of Section 28”.

Section 28 ended because the LGBTQ+ community and its allies protested it. Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ rights group, was formed to oppose it. According to attitude magazine “Section 28, ironically, galvanised the gay community, forcing it to become more vocal and political”. For example, on 23 May 1988 a group of lesbians stormed the news to protest Section 28. On February 20th 1988, 20,000 LGBT+ people marched in Manchester against it. Acts such as protesting and lobbying against Section 28 would play a role in persuading the pubic and politicians that the act should be overturned. After the late 1980s the British public began to develop more liberal views towards homosexuality. The British social attitudes survey has found in 1987 64% of people believed same sex sexual relations were wrong but by 1998 this figure was 39%. In 2003 after over after 15 years of campaigning a Labour government removed Section 28 from law.