THATCHER’S SECTION 28: MADE ME
This year marks 20 years since “Section 28”, the ‘gay ban’ in UK schools was repealed in 2003. And I noticed a cohort of attention seeking, clout munching, twenty-something’s with curious haircuts claiming to be either traumatised by section 28. Or an authority to speak on behalf of myself and others as to what school was like under section 28. Despite them not being born and/or in education at the time of it’s existence.
Given I was in school from 1987 and when section 28 came into effect in 1988 to 2001 before its repeal in 2003. I am but one of many “homosexual” voices of the LGB (Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual) “community" [hate that word] to share what effect section 28 had on me as a gay kid having been educated under section 28 for 13 of its 15 year existence.
1988: Section 28
September 1987 I started full-time education at Worthinghead Primary School in the small village of Wyke, Bradford. Unbeknown to me then, and not until Covid-19 national lockdown in 2020 had I even heard of “Section 28”.
“Section 28 or Clause 28 was a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities”. [Wikipedia]
Sec: 28 from the Local Government Act 1988
I can state ‘confidently’ that, I consciously knew I was ‘Gay’ [homosexual] from the age of about four (1986) or five (1987). And I am always asked how I knew from such an early age? I can vividly remember always liking boys in one way and girls in another. I used to hold hands with boys in the playground and always detested having to hold hands with girls whenever we had to march from the class to assembly or when the school took us out on field trips. In a panic I’d always seek to buddy up with a male classmate to prevent being buddied with a girl.
I remember sleepovers with same-sex friends and we’d have a mutual, inquisitive interest in exploring our bodies without knowing the significance of our behaviour despite it not being sexual. It was more a case of getting ready for bed and pointing out we both had a ‘winky’ [penis] etc. And while most kids do this in an act of immature embarrassment, it always clicked with me that I found the same sex more of an interest.
And as I got to grips with my first year at school in 1987 it seemed the LGB (Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual) movement were marching and protesting about the introduction of “Section 28” into the Local Government Act 1988. These protesters were men and women who had since left school and were now in adulthood. Had a sense of foreboding that section 28 was going to set back the LGB movement and the rights they had fought so hard to secure.
MARCH: My peers interfering with kids
PROTEST: Scrap Section 28
CLOUT: Makes good clout
While I am sure it was with the best intention, I have to admit even today I am slightly unnerved as to why they felt it was a breach of rights for children. Children then and to this day are not engrossed nor concerned about political matters of the state or what gay couples get up to between the sheets. And while children have “rights”, I am hard pressed to understand this argument. As to why they protested for children to have the right to understand sexual relations that went beyond the scope of the reproductive cycle and how life is formed.
As the adage goes ‘let children be children’ and I can say this confidently as I remember being a child myself and at school under section 28. In the same year that section 28 was introduced my father had died in an accident at work and my mother’s best friend who was a lesbian moved in. Initially to help out with my fathers estate it soon turned into a gay relationship.
I didn’t find it all that comfortable having a same sex couple at the head of the household, even though I knew I was gay myself. Although at the time I didn’t understand nor use the word “gay” but knew it as me being interested/attracted to the same sex. Thankfully it fizzled out after about a year, although she remained a strong family friend for years after.
And it can only be the LGB movement and protest around section 28 that led to my school years being bullied and labelled as a “pervert” for being and/or perceived to be gay. So while this movement holds itself in high regard it fails to acknowledge the consequence of their actions in its attempt to interfere with children’s education which caused us gay kids more harm than section 28 itself.
Fast-forward over 30 years and we now have a gender dysphoric cohort screaming and shouting about section 28. Despite them not even being ‘born’ or in education when it was repealed in 2003 (England and Wales) yet claim it has severely harmed their educational experience. Weaponising section 28 for social clout or for a political agenda is in turn using people like me as a weapon for gain and I find this sick, twisted and offensive. For the last 22 years I have enjoyed societal acceptance and a ‘live and let live’ mentality in regard to my ‘gayness’. And for the first time since leaving school in 2001, last week I was called a “pervert” and a “pedo” due to these “LGBTQ+” extremists claiming to speak on my behalf. (I do wonder if the ban on smacking your child plays a part in this feral behaviour under the guise of ‘activism’).
I say offensive, as it does not meet the narrative being pushed by these screeching ‘curious haircuts’ on TikTok. Claiming that Section 28 was harmful to individuals and the LGB (Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual) community of which are totally unfounded and disingenuous. They incessantly allege section 28 is “Queer History” in a bid to erase the ‘Gay & Lesbian History’ of people like me to validate their insecurity in ‘belonging’.
All in a bid to brainwash society that they are a ‘group’ that has been hard done by or to merely ‘tory bash’ (remember I am politically homeless). If you want to bash “the tories” or Thatcher then do it, just don’t use Section 28 and ‘us’ that were educated under it. Unless you can demonstrate you were also educated under section 28 and can substantiate your claims of it causing you harm. Especially as the piece of legislation was never implemented in any prosecution and/or complaint. And being politically homeless myself I understand a political party always introduces legislation to please its supporters. Just as Labour pleased its supporters by repealing section 28 in 2003.
And for as much complaining people did that my parents moved around a lot meaning I changed schools often. In this instance, it only serves to strengthen my voice on this matter given the average child attends two schools in their educational life. I attended six with three being the following primary schools:
Worthinghead Primary School, Wyke, Bradford: 1987 -1990
Cross Hall Junior School, Morley, Leeds: 1990 - 1991
Grimes Dyke Primary School, Swarcliffe, Leeds: 1991 - 1994
I recall vividly being referred to as “he’s just different” between teachers or teachers and my parents. It wasn’t until I was ‘old enough’ to understand my sexuality that I realised this was perhaps code for ‘he’s a raging homo’. But this is a significant point in the implementation of section 28 and the attitude of society, the government of the day and its supporters. The Conservative party and Ms Thatcher believed they were a party that upheld good morals and family values. And you have to ask, what’s wrong with that?
This was a time, and still was, right up to the late 1990s were society didn’t talk about sex or sexuality without being embarrassed. Let alone the word “gay” which was often mumbled or implied with a nod of the head and “you know, he’s a bit [gay], you know”. My last primary school before high school was known locally in Leeds as “Grimsey” (Grimes Dyke Primary) because people didn’t want to utter the word ‘Dyke’, a pejorative often used to refer to a lesbian. And it wasn’t because it was deemed offensive but more if they said it, they’d fear becoming a lesbian [dyke] themselves. These young cohorts today may laugh and think that sounds ridiculous, but that was the 80s & 90s. That was society, it was normal and it is this ‘lived history’ that makes me and others an authority to give an accurate account of this period of ‘Gay History’.
And as my class moved from the porta-cabin to the newly built school of Grimes Dyke Primary. We occupied these new open-plan style classrooms with another class adjacent to mine. The two classes merged every week for physical education (P.E.). All the boys from both classes used to go to the field and play football which I hated. And all the girls from both classes did netball on the playground. My teacher Mr Foster used to supervise the football and I remember a few weeks in always wanting to sit it out as football wasn’t my thing. He used to encourage me to join in saying “I don’t want you to be sat here alone”. He never forced me into playing, as in an attempt to ‘butch me up’. Although I was never one to sulk so I’d get up and just walk around the field avoiding the ball completely. Then he approached me one week and said he’d spoken to Miss Williams who was the other teacher supervising the girls. She had openly agreed for me to join the girls and I did netball and some weeks ‘ribbons’, you know like the Olympics.
If that was not a breach of section 28 (legislation) then I don’t know what is. Here was my male teacher recognising that I was ‘different’ [gay] and sought to ask the teacher supervising the girls if I could join them which could be viewed as “promoting homosexuality” under section 28. But it showed looking back, that teachers were in positions where they were motivated by children and children enjoying themselves throughout their educational journey. While I can not speak for teachers working under section 28, this act does not strike me of two teachers afraid of any ramifications of section 28. I mean, this was the UK and not a communist country, schools weren’t bugged nor did they have ‘section 28 police’ as Gen Z seem to imply.
I was often put forward for drama productions, and in the lead role of sacrificing villagers while telling the story of the Aztecs. My mother made me a monk-style dress from a duvet cover that was reversible. It had a giant rainbow on one side and reversed, it had sky and clouds on the other. She fashioned it by merely cutting out holes for arms and my head with an off cut as a belt. When I took it to school for the production I shared the sky was to symbolise the Aztec god’s but Mr Foster said he liked the rainbow side better. Guess I was too young to understand if he was taking the piss out of me, but as my experience as a whole went I was able to be who I was and was never once told to be anything different.
I remember during sex education around Spring 1994 we watched a dreary standard video about sex. There was nothing graphic about it, the only time you saw bare flesh was a boy in a swimming pool in trunks farting and bubbles coming up from the water. After, we all and had an opportunity to ask questions. I must have been 11 or 12 and had no questions about homosexuality whatsoever, nobody did. Gay relationships/sex was not a burning question for me as gay kid in school. It was not something on our radars at such a young age. And this seemingly “heterosexual” sex education lesson formed part of the evolution of mankind which still remains the same to this day.
My question in this lesson on sex education was “What if you’re having sex and you need a wee”? My question came from the explanation of ‘ejaculating [sperm] feeling like you’re having a wee’. Mrs. Gilmore replied, “that’s why you make sure you go to the toilet before you have sex”. Moments later she explored relationships with boys and girls. I remember holding the hand of my best friend Russell as we sat crossed-legged on the carpet, something we always did. For weeks we openly told the girls that we were “boyfriends” and nobody ever objected or batted an eyelid. We used to sit on the steps in the playground and ‘snog’ with a coat over our heads. Bragging that we’d been “French kissing”, no doubt having being exposed to such behaviour on TV or the like and thinking we were ‘grown up’.
Not a single teacher told us not to, nor that it was not normal or wrong and this was in a small suburb of Leeds that was not as progressive as the south. A school that is still surrounded by dodgy council estates and one time working mens clubs where if you did anything ‘gay’ you’d of had the shit kicked out of you. I was once battered by teenagers for walking home from school [Grimes Dyke] in my school pumps, so imagine what they’d have done if I was known to be gay. But while I knew I was gay, I had no burning desire to scream and shout about it. Not because I was embarrassed, ashamed nor scared. It was just not a time in society where everybody felt the need to ‘share’ or ‘over share’ aspects of their personal life.
1984: Clearly GAY!
WYKE: Worthinghead Primary © Google
1987: Gay Will’s first day at school
LEEDS: Cross Hall Junior School © Google
1992: Grimes Dyke aged 10
1992: Taken by the local pedo, true!
MAY 1995: Just a bit GAY age 13
From ‘Grimsey’ I went to the following three secondary schools:
Braim Wood High for Boys, Roundhay, Leeds 1994 - 1996
Heathcote High, Chingford, London 1996 - 1997
Warwick High for Boys, Walthamstow, London 1997 - 2001*
(*inc. Higher Education)
Again, many children attend just the one secondary school until their education ends. I attended three secondary schools, 1 up north in Leeds and 2 in London giving me greater exposure to different cultures and communities under section 28. Braim Wood was an outstanding school and to this day the values, culture, customs and memories still live with me although it has since been demolished. But aside from the good times I had here ‘homophobia’ was endemic despite it being an all-boys school where every student had the potential to be called ‘gay’. Homophobia as these present day cohorts claim came from section 28 without any evidence to substantiate these claims. And I’d hate to burst their bubble but the AIDS pandemic came before section 28 and that stirred up a whole load of homophobia. And homophobia was around well before the AIDS pandemic. So to say it came from section 28 is disingenuous and delusional and this is where I truly start to tune out and withdraw my support they are trying to garner for non LGBT issues.
Being called “Queer, Faggot, Fudge Packer, Bender, Puff and Pervert” were ‘the norm’ during the 1980s and 1990s. And I guess at school it was always language your peers had picked up from every day life at home. It was language that rolled off the tongue to be insulting or was intended to be emotionally scaring but it did not come about due to section 28 or intent to be malicious to a gay person. Common sense dictates that if section 28 didnt exist and homosexuality ‘was’ permitted to be promoted in schools. These homophobic slurs would have still been used, if not more so for those that openly identified as gay or lesbian.
I remember in my first year [1994] it got so bad my mother marched up to the school with an appointment with Mr O'Donnell the headteacher. He was quite advanced in years and soon after died of cancer. He called into his office James, the hardest kid in my year who kept calling me homophobic slurs. Mr O’Donnell reduced him to tears saying “so what if Hampson is gay, what business is it of yours. You know I have been headteacher for many years and when I see boys like you using language like this they often turn out to be gay themselves”. It stopped straight away and me and James were friends until I left. My mother whenever I mentioned Braim Wood would always say “Mr O’Donnell, oh he was such a lovely man”. Yet, was Mr O’Donnell promoting homosexuality by referring to my perceived sexuality and my right to be who I was way before the Equality Act? Or was he in breach of section 28 by supporting my perceived sexuality of being ‘gay’ [homosexual] in his reverse psychology in addressing James’s homophobic language? Not, as it is alleged by curious haircut’s and ‘they/them’ brigade that teachers refused to discuss such matters in fear of legal action against them. So that’s that misrepresentation of these self appointed LGBT historians relating to section 28 debunked. But where are they getting this drivel from or are they just making it up so that they can claim to be a victim of a period they didnt experience.
c.1995: My classmates with Leeds Rhinos
1996: School Bus Pass
1995: The ‘Wedge’ haircut
LONDON: School Travel pass.
TOO GAY: TFL wouldn’t allow me to use this passport pose for my school travel pass
Briam Wood in the mid-1990s covered sex education again which also included safe sex campaigns around HIV/AIDS. Along with the harmful effects of smoking and the dangers of drugs. And even in non-sex education classes homosexuality was, for all intent and purposes ‘promoted’. I remember my Science teacher Mr Andrews, who was again in his late 50s saying ‘Some of you will no doubt enter into homosexual relationships’. And I remember in this instance he was shutting down the class clown who used a homophobic slur by calling someone a “Queer” across the class. My drama teacher once spent a whole one-hour lesson talking about masturbation. It had a touch of the school pedo about it as he disclosed he could “cum in 30 seconds” as my classmates each proudly declared how long it took them in this newly discovered activity.
When my parents decided to return to their London roots I went to a mixed school as the all-boys school was full. The mixed school was horrendous and my truanting to Oxford Street and Soho meant the local authority agreed to put me in Warwick High for Boys in Walthamstow despite it being “full”. I pushed the total pupils in my class to 42 and was the one and only white kid. How I longed for the days of being called a “fag, poof, or queer” instead of the black slang of “batty boy” along with the usual white racism that they to this day deny exists yet in the same breath claim to be justified.
But looking back right from leaving school all this “homophobia” that some get triggered about today really set me up for life. When I named the chapter in my book “sticks and stones” it was a nod to this period and the old adage you heard when you’d report bullying. I had learnt to be resilient, not to stress the small insignificant things and how to ensure I surrounded myself with valuable people and personalities. And when you witness these cohorts today get “triggered” by the smallest thing, you wonder where society and the education system went wrong?
I am truly grateful that section 28 protected me during my time in education despite never knowing it existed at the time. Although I am sure it wasn’t needed, given talking about homosexuality in British society was still taboo, especially up north. And while I knew I was gay, I never felt the need nor urge to go around telling everybody. After all, these were decades with no social media seeking ‘likes’ for validation nor the narcissistic selfie that’s filtered to fuck. Decades where people valued friendship by way of your personality and not your sexuality. Heterosexual/conventional sex education was a couple of lessons if that, in a ‘quick show em the sex ed’ video before they head off to high school”.
For what it’s worth, as with any aspect of legislation [the law] it is always open to ‘interpretation’. I am sure the handful of experiences I have highlighted above could be argued by both sides (prosecution/defence) as to what is defined and/or interpreted to be a breach of section 28 should any action have been taken, of which none ever was. And while myself politically homeless I can see how the introduction of section 28 was divisive, what political party doesn’t deliver on concerns raised by it’s supporters to remain in power?
SECTION 28: Made gays and drag queens!
What I value, if not treasure during my time in school with section 28. Is that homosexuality was not thrust down my throat leaving me to question if I was or wasn’t gay? While I knew I was gay from a very early age, section 28 allowed me not to be influenced which in turn didn’t lead me to question or become confused about my sexuality. Nor did it open up thoughts of my gender and/or identity. I sat and listened attentively to sex education, more so in secondary school. Knowing this was not how I intended to fulfil my sexual needs.
And during these sex education lessons I didnt for a second have a tantrum or scream and shout that I didn’t feel included and/or represented. Quite the opposite, I felt ‘exclusive’ and special and found it thrilling that there was one or two in my class that felt the same as me knowing they were gay. And the point I’d make here is that being homosexual is something you know within yourself and is not something that you need to be convinced of by way of the education system. Some like me knew they were gay/lesbian from an early age. Others discover their sexuality in their teens when puberty hits and they are of an age to make their own decisions and how they intend to explore themselves.
By puberty I was already lusting over male famous personalities by swapping my Gina G poster on my bedroom wall for the boyband NSYNC. Sleepovers with secondary school classmates often led to kissing and oral sex in a effort to explore. Just like heterosexual peers at the same age of 14-16 recounted liaisons behind bike sheds kissing girls while often “fingering a lass”. Meaning section 28 didnt stop me having the same experiences as my heterosexual counterparts. In fact section 28 had me actively going out and exploring my sexuality that I felt deep within and clearly ‘who I was’.
And what do these teenagers have today without section 28? Social media and a virtual world often locking themselves in their bedrooms for days on end with no social interaction. Constant access and streaming of extremely graphic pornography, leaving nothing to the imagination. No forming of basic relationships with ‘people’ let alone any exploration of their sexuality. Those that preach section 28 was harmful yet only attended school after its repeal. Pontificating from platforms such as TikTok with their bedroom as their backdrop. Often looking anaemic from lack of natural light and a nourishing meal. Hair dyed various vibrant shades as the only means to make them appear interesting. While alleging they are a voice for an acronym so long they have trouble saying it without getting out of breath.
And while school was mundane and boring at times, hard and tough I did on a whole enjoy it. And whether section 28 had any impact or not I truly appreciate I was allowed to enjoy school for what it was. And that when I left school I was able to explore the next milestone of life. Exploring my sexuality fully and what a fucking awesome time I had in doing so given it had not been spoon fed to me at school.
And while I am no scientist, it can be no coincidence that those that entered UK education after section 28 was repealed in 2003. Are now a ‘post-section 28’ generation who have severe issues around gender and gender identity. And I am talking about the ‘pronoun brigade’ not those with genuine gender dysphoria, such as transgender who will always have my support.
BRIGHTON 2012: Section 28 poof & dyke
PRIDE: 3x Sec 28 gays, Brighton Aug 2013
But those that insist on labelling society as “Cis” (a term first used in 2014) and allegedly reclaiming the slur “queer” which is an identity that also includes the heterosexual population [*], oh the irony. A generation who angrily demand to be referred to in a certain way yet tell me I am a “Queer man” [**] despite telling them I am a “gay man, not queer” and that my history is “Queer History” despite telling them “my history is gay history”. In short, they scream they are being discriminated and have no equal rights while denying me of my rights to be gay as per my sexuality of which is not a gender ideology. The irony here is that their behaviour is akin to Section 28 by not allowing me to state I am a “gay man” and that my history is “gay history”? And I am sure me sharing my ‘factual’ experiences of section 28 won’t go down well and I will be abused by those ‘gender extremists’ that have hijacked LGBT for clout.
Section 28 didn’t stop me from being “gay”, it only served to confirm I was “gay”, am “gay” and still “gay”. And to top it off living with what was once dubbed the “gay plague” [HIV]. So thank you section 28 for allowing me to live my best “gay life” and for a fantastic educational experience. And just to piss off the they/them brigade if they got this far. Despite being politically homeless Mrs Thatcher is now my new hero!
