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Legacies of Section 28

As we face renewed attacks on the dignity and rights of trans and non-binary people in the UK, many have pointed to the parallels with Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality in materials and schools or teaching about the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship. This two-day interdisciplinary conference will provide an opportunity to discuss the significance of Section 28 in the context of 1980s and 1990s Britain, as well as its on-going legacy in education, LGBTQ+ activism and social attitudes.

6-7th June at UCL Institute of Advanced Studies

We bring together historians, educators, activists, artists and others to explore and reflect on these questions, in a variety of formats.  Discussion on Friday 6th June will be structured around academic presentations in panels and roundtables.  On Saturday 7th June, we will hear personal recollections, explore the legacies of Section 28 through performance, film and collage, and consider how teachers are integrating LGBT+ and queer histories into the school curriculum.

This is a free event, open to all, hosted by the Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL.  Refreshments will be provided. To register, please sign up below.

Enacted at a moment of heightened popular anxieties around HIV/AIDS and media scandal-mongering about left-wing ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to children, Section 28 has been seen as emblematic of social and political hostility to lesbians and gay men in the late 1980s, yet the Stop the Clause groups that opposed the legislation also galvanised the LGBT+ movement and provided a vital training ground for activists from a wide range of backgrounds. The Legacies of Section 28 conference aims to re-examine the impact and significance of this legislation and the debates and protests around it, exploring activist, literary and artistic responses to it, as well as its place in collective memory and the parallels with today.

Image credit: marielou.duret@gmail.com