#section 28

it was at the Past Shelves exhibition by Lavender Menace at the Museum of Edinburgh

this was a protest flyer against the Section 28 bill that made talking about queer experiences illegal. and I teared up because holy shit we could just change the details up top and still use that line in red to protest the supreme court ruling

This was a youth work project and I had a proper cry because we're a lot better in a lot of ways; but I still meet kids worried about going to youth groups that aren't LGBTQ+ ones in case they'll face discrimination

And finally I had a full blown sob finding this because I was already delicate but going down to see this shrine of people's beloved slash art just. got me.

i genuinely think writing and reading slash on livejournal is part of what kept me tethered here when i was at my lowest as a kid. we've been here for so long. making up queer wee stories and small press zines. putting in effort to connect with people even when that meant typing up your fic in the computer room and printing it out to share with other weird gleeful perverts. making handmade badge to flag to other people you're a fandom weirdo and very proud of it.

@wolfstarmicrofic June 16, word count 421

Remus turned up for his first day as a charity volunteer. He hadn’t done a lot of charity work in the past. He’d donated to the local animal shelter because all those damn dogs had perfected the sad puppy eyes, but this one affected him, so here he was at the newly formed Stonewall UK, a charity set up to help campaign against Section 28 and as he was a teacher and a gay man. He was unable to help his students if they came to him with anything resembling a queer question. It was a legal requirement that he not utter a word about anything that wasn’t about straight family relationships. It hurt him, and he was determined to do his bit to fight it. 

“Hi, my name is Sirius,” a man with long, black, curly hair that kept falling into his eyes greeted him as he walked into the building. 

“Hi, I’m Remus, sorry, I’m new,” Remus apologised, feeling slightly silly. 

“Remus, it’s a pleasure. Right, I’ll give you the tour, and then we’ll get stuck in.” Sirius waved him on as they set off into the small office space. 

“We’re hoping to get bigger premises in the future, but right now every penny we raise is going to help repeal this bloody legislation.”

Remus nodded along, trying to take everything in and not stare at Sirius’s plump lips. He took a steadying breath. It had been a while since he’d had feelings this strong right off the bat for someone. 

“Any questions?”

“Hmm, er, no. No, I’m good.”

“Excellent. Right, let’s get to the poster making.”

Remus wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been washing blue paint out of another man’s soft curls; that was exactly what he was doing now in the public loos down the road, as the Stonewall office didn’t have running water right now. 

“A few of us are going down to the pub if you want to come?” Sirius said, as Remus squeezed the water from his hair. 

“Er, yeah, sure.” Remus wasn’t a great drinker, but he also didn’t want to go home just yet. 

“Excellent!” Sirius said enthusiastically. 

I don't think I'm that old, but section 28 was in force when I started secondary school - when I was 11, "gay" was a playground insult and teachers felt like they couldn't address it, in fear of losing their jobs.

Even though it was repealed during my time at school, I don't really remember recieving any effective teaching about LGBTQ+ issues, history etc, our sex ed certainly assumed everyone was cishet. I didn't hear the words "non binary" until I was in sixth form, and there were no out students at my school.

During my time at school I also witnessed a teacher harassed out of a job for being gay.

I genuinely believe this was so damaging for so many people.

Over time, things have got better and I genuinely believe schools like the one I went to did become more accepting places for queer youth through the 2010s, we reached a place where students could come out as same sex attracted or trans and be accepted within a school community and get education relevant to them. But recently it's started to feel like we are sliding back, that schools are becoming less and less safe for trans students and staff, and this is something we must guard against.

The year is 1988...🏳️‍🌈

I’m not sure how I stumbled across this book, but I’m a good 20% into it now and really enjoying it. It’s an interesting combination of the history of Section 28 (a law basically banning the “promoting homosexuality” in schools passed in England, Scotland and Wales in 1988) and the authors story of how this affected him growing up. He was 16 when it passed, and had known he was gay for years at that point.

It is a bit heavy on the history and politics, I’m hoping to see more of his personal story going forward. As someone who lived through the AIDS crisis beginning in ‘81 as a deeply closeted lesbian (in ‘81 I was 17) I see so many parallels to what was going on in NYC and how it affected me.

I’m also reading thinking of David, who has referred to Section 28 several times in interviews, and Michael, who has mentioned wanting to wear skirts and lip gloss at that time 😁. @ingravinoveritas I think you would find this book interesting, if you haven’t already read it.

I also find myself wondering how everything would have affected Aziraphale and Crowley whenever I read anything about LGBTQ+ history