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In 1980s Britain, homophobia was rising. This was in part due to increasing visibility of LGBT+ people as laws criminalising homosexual sex were repealed, in part due to the AIDS epidemic, and in part due to joint activism between miners' unions and LGBT+ groups.

Spurious stories began appearing in the media regarding various texts said to be read in schools. Many of the books referenced were fairly banal, and also weren't present in schools.

Nevertheless, the governing Conservative party leaned into the moral panic, repeating spurious stories. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said "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."

The 1987 general election included Conservatives making all sorts of unevidenced claims, such as that five year olds were being taught about the specifics of how two men had sex (they weren't). Attack posters about homosexuality were used, too.

1987 election poster designed by
Saatchi & Saatchi for the Conservative Party. Courtesy of Conservative Party Archive.

The Conservatives won the election by a landslide, and felt they had the mandate to begin enacting their rhetoric. In their Local Government Act of 1988, they included Section 28, a provision which amended a previous Act to include:
(1) 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.

There was campaigning from many groups before the legislation was passed. The wording of Section 28 was ultimately tempered due to interventions from the arts sector, who were concerned about broader arts censorship; and specific exemptions for health were included.

The main opposition party, Labour, initially did not oppose the legislation, but changed their course when their rivals, the Liberal Democrats, came out against it.

The LGBT+ community mobilised in opposition to Section 28. Actor Sir Ian McKellan came out in a radio interview in response. Lesbians invaded a BBC news broadcast, chaining themselves to desks and sitting on chairs to make themselves heard. Marches took place across the country.

Image: London march in April 1988, Rick Colls/Rex/Shutterstock

Despite the activism and advocacy work, Section 28 passed on 24th May 1988. The wording of the legislation was vague and somewhat circular. Multiple clarifications were issued almost immediately.

In the 15 years Section 28 was in effect, there was not a single prosecution. This was largely because under such vague wording, there was a lot of self-censorship among teachers and local authorities.

A 1991 survey found that 86% of young people had never received any information about lesbians, including that they exist, at school.

Activists worked tirelessly for the entire time that Section 28 was in effect. They campaigned for repeal, and the community mobilised to try to provide information in spaces where it was not prohibited.

Section 28 was repealed in Scotland in 2000, and in 2003 in the rest of the UK, following more than a decade of tireless campaigning to repeal the legislation.

The impact of a generation of people receiving next to no education about LGBT+ people existing is difficult to quantify, and difficult to measure. How do you even begin to measure the stigma, and the impact of over a decade of invisibility?

Even in 2014, a Stonewall survey found that 37% of primary school teachers didn't know if they were allowed to teach about LGBT+ issues. And even in 2019, anecdotal reports suggested some librarians thought Section 28 was still in effect.

Some politicians who were involved in bringing Section 28 into being, such as Michael Howard, later said their views had changed. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the legislation. And yet, its impact still continues to be felt.

@StrangeNoises

From the posts:
“The main opposition party, Labour, initially did not oppose the legislation, but changed their course when their rivals, the Liberal Democrats, came out against it.”

Wow, I wonder how long Labour would have continued to support the legislation were it not for those wishy-washy centrist LibDems.

@vagina_museum

@RuthODay @vagina_museum leftists do love to dunk on liberals, mostly i think because they confuse it with neoliberalism. liberalism is basically, do what you want as long as you're not hurting anyone. the left... always want to control you in the end.

pity the current crop of libdems really are a wet blanket.

@Doran_Eirok @vagina_museum you have to remember it was also on the back of the AIDs crisis and denial by gov.

@Thebratdragon @vagina_museum yeah :/ we definitely had that in the US too (where's I'm originally from) but the combination of that with Section 28 is particularly vile. Granted formal education in the US never taught us much of anything about the existence of LGBTQ people either but I don't know that it was so explicitly forbidden by a single nationwide law for us.

@DodoTheDev @vagina_museum I started college in 1988, I came out as bi last year.

@floppyplopper @etikemik @vagina_museum This is so oddly specific, and yet it's a demographic I can say I know and work with.

@spacehobo @floppyplopper @etikemik @vagina_museum yeah, same, big fan of the old guard Brent lesbians

@stavvers @floppyplopper @etikemik @vagina_museum Did you know they have an Ikea now?

@spacehobo @stavvers @etikemik @vagina_museum
Ikea Lesbians