Section 28

Section 28 was a controversial anti-gay amendment to the United Kingdom's 1988 Local Government Act, enacted on 24 May 1988 and finally repealed on 18 November 2003. 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"http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880009_en_5.htm#mdiv28.

Related Topics:
Gay - Amendment - United Kingdom - 1988 - Local Government Act - 24 May - 18 November - 2003 - Local authority - Homosexuality - Maintained school

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In essence, Section 28 prohibited local councils from distributing any material, whether plays, leaflets, books, etc, that portrayed gay relationships as anything other than abnormal. It also appeared to prohibit teachers and educational staff from discussing gay issues with students for fear of losing state funding (see Controversy over applicability for more information). It was also used to close lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual student support groups in schools and colleges across Britainhttp://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/gleanings2889.html.

Related Topics:
Local council - Controversy over applicability - Lesbian - Gay - Transgender - Bisexual

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While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Act before the authors settled on labelling it '28'. Section 28 was also sometimes referred to by its old name, Clause 28 ? in the UK Parliament sections of legislation are called clauses before they become lawhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/611704.stm. Since the effect of the amendment was to insert a new section '2a' into the Local Government Act, it was also sometimes referred to as Section 2ahttp://www.galha.org/glh/section28.html.

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