Collective Memories of Section 28

Syeda Ali, University of Cambridge 
 
The stories we tell about our histories and ourselves are important: Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act signifies a culturally iconic moment within LGBT communities. In this paper, I deconstruct the basis for some widely held beliefs about Section 28, and elevate previously marginalised voices.  
 
By examining cultural representations of Section 28, I reveal how collective memory is shaped more by representations than by lived experiences of the law. Stories of closeted teachers, censorship, and a pervasive sense of doom dominate narratives of the Section 28 era, overshadowing the diversity of queer experiences.  
 
Drawing on oral testimonies and archival research, I challenge the notion of Section 28 as the definitive turning point for LGBT experiences in schools. My research highlights varied responses, including denial, shame, defiance, and solidarity, and demonstrates that schools’ acceptance and enforcement of Section 28 was uneven. While it symbolised legal inequality, implementation varied, as educational policies took precedence over the Local Government Act. Structural heteronormativity shaped school environments before the legislation and persists long after its repeal.  
 
This paper interrogates the idea of a singular narrative of Section 28 and argues that understanding its legacy is essential for addressing enduring structural homophobia in schools.  
 
From Section 28 to the Gay ‘Tsar’ - LGBTQ+ Teachers’ Perspectives on, and Experiences of, LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Schools 
Dr Anna Llewellyn, Durham University 
 
Since the repeal of Section 28 in 2003 in England and Wales, and 2000 in Scotland, LGBTQ+ inclusion within schools has moved from silence, to anti-bullying initiatives, to attempts at normalisation of LGBTQ+ (Llewellyn, 2023). 
 
These are complex activities within school sites where childhood is a special category deemed in need of protection, that is often positioned in contrast to the ‘adult activity’ of sexuality (Jackson & Scott, 2004; Llewellyn, 2024). However, with recent changes in curriculums – LGBT inclusion in RSE in England and Wales, and more broadly in Scotland - there is increased expectation of LGBTQ+ inclusion within UK schools. Although, how this is enacted and experienced within and between schools is inconsistent. 
 
One group of people for whom this has special significance is LGBTQ+ teachers – the presence or not of LGBTQ+ directly relating to their identities. Hence, using interviews with 50 LGBTQ+ teachers, this presentation draws on the legacy of Section 28, to discuss how schools enact, or not, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the impact this has on LGBTQ+ teachers. 
 
Findings suggest that the legacy of Section 28 is to some extent present, in both explicit and implicit ways. Moreover, LGBTQ+ teachers often feel the expectation of actioning LGBTQ+ inclusion. This can be empowering but arguably also places a burden of labour on LGBTQ+ staff. This is complicated by LGBTQ+ teachers’ identities – the position of LGBTQ+ teacher not being equally available across schools. It is further complicated, by the neoliberal climate, where individualised actions are prioritised over structural changes. 
 
Solidarity through Sexuality: Unravelling the Legacy of Section 28 in Resisting the Apparatus of State Repression  
Ansh Sharma, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi and Soumyaseema Mandal, LSE 


The Thatcher government's enactment of Section 28 in 1988 was not a legislative measure in isolation but the part of a broader attempt aimed towards state regulation that sought to discipline dissent, sexuality and public morality. Operating in tandem with the criminalisation of labor movements, the policing of racialised bodies, and inadequate state response to the AIDS crisis, Section 28 co-created an expanding infrastructure of social control. Drawing on archival materials including pamphlets, meeting minutes and protest ephemera (most of which are located in Bishopsgate Institute, the London Archives, and LSE Library Special Collections) this paper examines various ways in which the legislation reinforced queer precarity while simultaneously galvanising new forms of resistance, with a specialised focus on the AIDS crisis. This work also clarifies the dynamic solidarities developed by labor organisers, AIDS advocacy groups, and LGBT activists against the logic of governmental repression. This study uses critical discourse analysis to delve into the entangled ways in which these movements navigated and negotiated state surveillance, parental stigma and the restrictions posited by respectability politics, thereby uncovering the obstacles and opportunities emergent in cross-movement coalition formation. By situating Section 28 within these interwoven conflicts and struggles, we call for an expansive imagination of the section’s legacy, extending beyond conversations concerning legal repeal and pedagogy, and call for scholarly attention to the myriad ways in which its influence continues to thicken contemporary debates surrounding queer precarity, representational visibility, and institutional disciplining of public morality.  


Bionotes: 

• Syeda Ali is a fourth-year PhD student in History at the University of Cambridge (submitting April 2025), studying the intersections of education policy and school practice in Britain, 1988-2003. Her research uses interviews with teachers and school students to assess the historical impact of Section 28 in schools. Formerly a state secondary history teacher in London/ international education professional, and herself a ‘child of Section 28’, Syeda is committed to promoting diversity in the history curriculum and championing equality in schools. She earned her MA in Queer History at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she developed an interest in oral history.
• Anna Llewellyn is an Assistant Professor of Education at Durham University whose work sits within educational, sociology, and cultural studies. She is primarily concerned with equality, diversity and inclusion, and utilises research, teaching and administrative roles to work towards equity and social justice within the education system. Her recent research projects are focused on LGBTQ+ teachers within schools. Whilst her current research is centred around LGBTQ+ student support at universities. More broadly, she has published on the following topics: LGBTQ+; sexuality; gender; childhood and youth; social media; policy; and mathematics education. 
• Ansh Sharma is a queer-feminist researcher working in Trans Studies and Critical Kinship Studies. Borrowing analytical frameworks from Queer Theory, she is interested in the discursive and affective mediations of intimacy, infrastructure and digitality. They study Sociology at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi. Soumyaseema Mandal is a recent graduate from the London School of Economics with a master’s in Modern History. Her research interests span across queer history, histories of sexuality and histories of queer diaspora. 

- this seminar is free to attend, but advance registration is required.