I recently found out about ‘Section 28’ a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. It was effective from 1988 too 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales.
This was my period of education and I only found out about this recently. I find this shocking to be honest. This again makes me think of the trust we put into education to be clear and transparent. In this case I feel deceived. It comes back to hidden history again, and the legacy it scars on individuals and society.
It such a great article it talks about “Tongues Untied” by film maker Marlon Riggs 1989 documentary about the AIDS crisis. And when it aired on PBS in 1991, it inflamed the American culture wars, as then presidential candidate Pat Buchanan soon seized on the project (and the $5000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that Riggs had used to make it) to push for stricter content and cultural funding restrictions across the country.
The Drying Room Blog 