Clause 28 - State sponsored prejudice
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was a piece of legislation born out of populism and prejudice. Coming into force on 24 May 1988, the section (often referred to as Clause 28) had the ominous heading of 'Prohibition on promoting homosexuality by teaching or by publishing material' and stated that;
'A local authority shall not-
(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;
(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.'
The inclusion of the word 'pretended' in the second part of that clause was presumably there just to drive home the point that, in the opinion of the lawmakers at the time, homosexuality could never be a 'proper' family relationship or as normal and natural as a heterosexual family relationship (complete with the adultery, affairs and other scandals that seem to come with it where Cabinet Ministers are concerned).
Writing in the Guardian in 2018 Chris Godfrey noted that 'For Conservative politicians, section 28 was an easy, short-term win. It was an obvious populist gambit to solidify support among the 75% of the population who thought that homosexual activity was “always or mostly wrong”.'
The fact that you would have been extremely hard pressed to find any examples of homosexuality being promoted in schools prior to the legislation being introduced was presumably irrelevant to the Government of the day and the people who supported the legislation. As we can see in many of the dog whistle style politics emerging from the UK government today, it is easy to stoke fear and prejudice, to create a 'threat' out of something that is either non-threatening, non-existent, or both.
The justification for introducing this odious piece of legislation, provided by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life."
Make-up includes references to Clause 28, its impact on children questioning their sexual orientation at that time, and on teachers, both in terms of whether they could admit to being 'gay' and what help they could give to pupils facing homophobic bullying, or wanting someone they could talk to outside of their immediate family.
The quotes below are taken from articles published by BBC3 and The Guardian.
'A local authority shall not-
(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;
(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.'
The inclusion of the word 'pretended' in the second part of that clause was presumably there just to drive home the point that, in the opinion of the lawmakers at the time, homosexuality could never be a 'proper' family relationship or as normal and natural as a heterosexual family relationship (complete with the adultery, affairs and other scandals that seem to come with it where Cabinet Ministers are concerned).
Writing in the Guardian in 2018 Chris Godfrey noted that 'For Conservative politicians, section 28 was an easy, short-term win. It was an obvious populist gambit to solidify support among the 75% of the population who thought that homosexual activity was “always or mostly wrong”.'
The fact that you would have been extremely hard pressed to find any examples of homosexuality being promoted in schools prior to the legislation being introduced was presumably irrelevant to the Government of the day and the people who supported the legislation. As we can see in many of the dog whistle style politics emerging from the UK government today, it is easy to stoke fear and prejudice, to create a 'threat' out of something that is either non-threatening, non-existent, or both.
The justification for introducing this odious piece of legislation, provided by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life."
Make-up includes references to Clause 28, its impact on children questioning their sexual orientation at that time, and on teachers, both in terms of whether they could admit to being 'gay' and what help they could give to pupils facing homophobic bullying, or wanting someone they could talk to outside of their immediate family.
The quotes below are taken from articles published by BBC3 and The Guardian.
|
Teachers
“After section 28 came in, there was certainly a difference in school environments. A lot of teachers did not want to deal with the subject out of fear. Bigoted teachers were emboldened. A lot of schools pretended that homosexuality did not exist and it allowed a lot of misinformation, prejudice and abuse to go unchallenged. And, of course, it had a terrible effect on young people: students suffered homophobic abuse in silence and teachers and schools did nothing about it." "While I didn’t hide my sexuality from my colleagues, being open with the students was more problematic. I was careful at first because I did not trust the management of my secondary school to support me. I also felt potentially vulnerable to attack by parents. It didn’t help that where I taught there were few visible out teachers and section 28 made it much more unlikely that would change. The effect was isolating." |
Students
"I got a lot of flak from pretty much everybody in the school. It wasn't just a select group of kids. Kids in the playground pushing and shoving and calling you a 'fag'. Throwing their drinks on you. Because of Section 28 it meant that a lot of teachers felt like they couldn't step in." "Section 28 put me at a lot of risk because I didn't get sex education that was relevant to me. I didn't get any advice about what a healthy relationship looked like. I had no models. As soon as I turned 16 and I started going out to gay clubs, I developed worrying behaviour that put me in danger, like excessive alcohol abuse and sex with much older men. No-one stepped in to help me back then and I feel a bit angry about that to this day" |
And what did it achieve?
What section 28’s supporters failed to foresee was that it would inspire one of the most rapidly successful civil rights movements in modern British history.
'Looking back, if we had won the battle of section 28, Stonewall would probably never have been founded. I don’t think we would have progressed to equality as far as we have now. The fact that we lost meant we had to make sure another section 28 didn’t happen again. Maybe if we had won, we would have all sat back, glowed, then lived in inequality for decades after.'
The protests were not successful in preventing the legislation from taking effect, and there is no doubt that many thousands of people suffered as a result of it, both in the education system and outside of it. However, that was only part of the story. Fought against throughout the 15 years it was in force (12 in Scotland) it shone a light on wider injustices and fuelled a greater determination to fight these. It arguably also played a part in the legislation to allow same-sex marriage in 2014, a piece of legislation delivered under the leadership of David Cameron, someone who had voted against repeal of section 28 shortly after becoming an MP and who was now apologising for doing so.
At the same time, the legacy of section 28 continues. A survey in 2018 compared the perceptions of LGBT+ teachers who experienced Section 28 with the perceptions of LGBT+ teachers entering the profession after its repeal. Responses suggested that Section 28 continued to adversely affect the LGBT+ teachers who experienced it. These teachers were, in 2017–18, less open about their sexuality, unlikely to engage in the school community with their partner and more likely to see their teacher and sexual identities as incompatible. It concluded that, despite advances in equalities legislation, those teaching during the Section 28 era are still deeply affected by their experiences.
Furthermore, the misconceptions, unfounded fears and prejudices that fuelled section 28 have also not gone away. This has been brought into sharp focus in the UK, with recent protests against the teaching of same sex relationships in some schools. Elsewhere legislation in Hungary and Russia show that some states are not just turning a blind eye to homophobia but are actively endorsing and encouraging it. There is a line in the play that says, 'tolerance is going out of fashion', sadly, for many, it has never been in fashion.
Sources
Section 28: What was it and how did it affect LGBT+ people?
Section 28 protesters 30 years on: ‘We were arrested and put in a cell up by Big Ben’
UK’s LGBT teachers still scarred by the legacy of homophobic legislation more than 30 years on
What section 28’s supporters failed to foresee was that it would inspire one of the most rapidly successful civil rights movements in modern British history.
'Looking back, if we had won the battle of section 28, Stonewall would probably never have been founded. I don’t think we would have progressed to equality as far as we have now. The fact that we lost meant we had to make sure another section 28 didn’t happen again. Maybe if we had won, we would have all sat back, glowed, then lived in inequality for decades after.'
The protests were not successful in preventing the legislation from taking effect, and there is no doubt that many thousands of people suffered as a result of it, both in the education system and outside of it. However, that was only part of the story. Fought against throughout the 15 years it was in force (12 in Scotland) it shone a light on wider injustices and fuelled a greater determination to fight these. It arguably also played a part in the legislation to allow same-sex marriage in 2014, a piece of legislation delivered under the leadership of David Cameron, someone who had voted against repeal of section 28 shortly after becoming an MP and who was now apologising for doing so.
At the same time, the legacy of section 28 continues. A survey in 2018 compared the perceptions of LGBT+ teachers who experienced Section 28 with the perceptions of LGBT+ teachers entering the profession after its repeal. Responses suggested that Section 28 continued to adversely affect the LGBT+ teachers who experienced it. These teachers were, in 2017–18, less open about their sexuality, unlikely to engage in the school community with their partner and more likely to see their teacher and sexual identities as incompatible. It concluded that, despite advances in equalities legislation, those teaching during the Section 28 era are still deeply affected by their experiences.
Furthermore, the misconceptions, unfounded fears and prejudices that fuelled section 28 have also not gone away. This has been brought into sharp focus in the UK, with recent protests against the teaching of same sex relationships in some schools. Elsewhere legislation in Hungary and Russia show that some states are not just turning a blind eye to homophobia but are actively endorsing and encouraging it. There is a line in the play that says, 'tolerance is going out of fashion', sadly, for many, it has never been in fashion.
Sources
Section 28: What was it and how did it affect LGBT+ people?
Section 28 protesters 30 years on: ‘We were arrested and put in a cell up by Big Ben’
UK’s LGBT teachers still scarred by the legacy of homophobic legislation more than 30 years on
