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Section 28 was a controversial amendment to the United Kingdom's 1988 Local Government Act. The amendment stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally
promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting
homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained
school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" [1] .
In essence, Section 28 prohibited local councils from
distributing any material, whether plays, leaflets, books, etc, that portray homosexual relationships as anything other than
abnormal. It prohibited teachers and educational staff from discussing homosexual issues with students for fear of losing state
funding and it was used to close homosexual, transgender, and bisexual student support groups in schools across Britain.
Before its repeal, Section 28 was already largely redundant: sex
education in England and Wales is regulated solely by the
Secretary of State for Education in
the Education and Skills Act 2000 and the Education Act 1996.
Nevertheless, many pro-homosexual and anti-homosexual campaigners still saw Section 28 as a symbolic issue and continued
to fight their own particular causes over it.
While going through Parliament, the proposed amendment was constantly relabeled with a variety of clause numbers as other
amendments were added or deleted to the Act before they settled on labeling it '28'. Section 28 is also sometimes
referred to by its old name, Clause 28 - in the UK Parliament amendments are called clauses before they become
law. Since the effect of Section 28 was to insert a new section '2a' into the Local Government
Act 1986, it is also referred to as section 2a of that act.
See also: homosexuality, Stonewall, age of consent, homosexual rights, Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin.
History
Section 28 was a product of a climate of intense media and political interest in homosexuality in the late
eighties/early nineties. The spread of the AIDS virus brought about wide-spread public
panic and fear, much of which was directed at the homosexual and transgender
communities.
The history of Section 28 began in 1986: Lord Halsbury tabled a Private
Member's Bill in the House of Lords entitled 'An act to refrain
local authorities from promoting homosexuality'. At the time, the incumbent Conservative government considered Halsbury's bill to be too misleading and risky. However, the law
successfully passed the House of Lords and was adopted by Conservative MP Dame Jill Knight. Swamped by the
announcement of the 1987 general election and lacking government support, Halsbury's bill
failed.
On 7 December 1987 a committee
reintroduced a similar clause into the Local Government
Act, championed by Knight. Despite having very little to do with the broad remit of the Act, which dealt with the compulsory
tendering of school services, they attempted to quickly and quietly slip the amendment through Parliament. After being debated on
8 December 1987 it was presented to the
House of Commons on 15 December 1987,
shortly before the parliamentary Christmas recess.
Section 28 became law on 24 May 1988.
The night before, lesbians protested, abseiling into Parliament and famously invading the BBC's Six O'Clock News.
The issue of Section 28 also served to galvanise the disparate British homosexual rights movement into action. The resulting protest saw the rise of now famous groups like Stonewall, started by Ian McKellen
and Angela Mason, and OutRage!, championed by Peter Tatchell.
Whilst the homosexual rights movement was united over Section 28, homosexual issues began to divide the Conservative
party, heightening divisions between party modernists and traditionalists. In 1999 Conservative
leader William Hague controversially sacked frontbencher Shaun Woodward for supporting the
repeal of Section 28, prompting pro-modernising Tories, such as Steve
Norris, to speak out against the decision. 2000 saw prominent homosexual Conservative
Ivan Massow defect to the Labour
Party, though he has since left that party as well.
On 7 February 2000, legislation to
repeal Section 28 was introduced by the Labour Government, but was defeated by a House of Lords campaign led by Baroness Young.
In May, 2000 in the first case of its kind The Christian Institute, an evangelical
organisation, unsuccessfully took Glasgow County Council to court for funding an AIDS support charity which the Institute alleged
promoted homosexuality, a breach of Section 28.
In the newly devolved Scottish Parliament the repeal process was more successful. Despite the efforts of many groups -
including an attempt by millionaire and evangelical Christian Brian Souter to run his own privately funded public poll in
an attempt to discredit reformers - Section 28, (Section 2a in Scotland), was successfully repealed by the Scottish Parliament on 21
June, 2000 with a 99 to 17 vote, with only two abstentions.
On 24 July 2000 legislation to repeal
Section 28 was once again re-introduced and passed the Commons in a free
vote. In the intervening period between the last attempt to repeal Section 28 the Labour Government had drastically
reformed the House of Lords, removing the majority of the hereditary
peers. Concessions were also made in the form of the new Learning and Skills
Bill which emphasised family values and which was hoped would win over opponents. However the repeal once again stalled in
the House of Lords.
Despite consecutive defeats in the House of Lords to repeal Section 28 in England and Wales, the Labour government passed legislation to repeal this
section as part of the Local Government Act 2003.
This passed the Lords and received Royal Assent on the 18 September 2003 and the repeal became effective on the 18 November 2003.
Support
Section 28 was primarily supported by religious groups including evangelical Christian groups such as The Christian
Institute, the African and Caribbean Evangelical Association, the Christian Action Research and Education, the Muslim Council of
Britain, and groups within the Roman Catholic Church
and the Church of England. In the House of Lords the campaign
against the repeal of Section 28 was successfully led by the late Baroness Young. Newspapers that strongly supported Section 28 included The Daily Mail and The Telegraph.
The main point of argument for Section 28 was that it protected children from 'predatory homosexuals' and paedophiles seeking to indoctrinate vulnerable young people into homosexuality.
Opposition
Gay rights advocates, such as Stonewall, OutRage!, the Pink Paper and the Gay Times formed the major opposition to
Section 28 and led the campaign for its repeal. Prominent individuals who spoke out for the repeal of Section
28 included Sir Ian McKellen, Ivan Massow, Mo Mowlam, Simon Callow, Annette Crosbie, Michael
Grade, Jane Horrocks, Michael Mansfield QC, Helen Mirren, Claire Rayner, and Ned Sherrin. It was also opposed by a minority of religious groups and leaders, such as
Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford. Newspapers that came out in opposition included The Guardian, The Independent and The Mirror. In the House of Lords the campaign for repeal was led by openly
gay peer Waheed Alli.
The main point of argument against Section 28 was that it discriminated against homosexuals of all age groups, and
that it was an intolerant and unjust law,
unfairly and needlessly labelling gay family relationships as "pretend". Various other arguments were also used against
Section 28 which are summarised as follows:
- Evidence was emerging that, by excluding gay support groups and gagging teachers from protecting victims of homophobic
bullying, Section 28 was actually endangering vulnerable children.
- Section 28 came with a loaded, homophobic assumption that homosexuals and homosexuality were inherently dangerous to
children, equating homosexuality with paedophilia.
- Not only did Section 28 prevent the promotion of homosexuality, it gave a legal reason to oppose it in schools and
other forums.
- The fact that Section 28 was law gave an impression to the public that the government sanctioned homophobia.
- It was legally flawed and redundant thanks to the Education and Skills Act 2000 and the Education Act 1996.
- Despite claims that Section 28 was used to manage teaching about gay issues in schools it didn't actually directly
apply to schools and, in fact, it only applied to local authorities.
- It was poorly worded and ambiguous leading to confusion for teachers over what they could and could't say and whether they
could help pupils who faced homophobic bullying and abuse.
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