Section 28

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 councilss 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.

Table of contents

1 History
2 Support
3 Opposition
4 External links

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 paedophiless 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.

External links

Section 28 from Open Directory Project
Full Text of the Local Government Act 1988
The Section 28 Battle from the BBC on July 24, 2000