After the Act: The rise and fall of Section 28

After the Act is a new 1980s-inspired musical about pride, protest...and abseiling lesbians.

Thatcher’s Section 28, which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, was the landmark legislation that silenced a generation, offered a global blueprint for LGBTQ+ oppression and galvanised a movement. Find out more about the show and its historical context here.

Twenty-one years after its repeal, the children of Section 28 are taking to the stage.

This new musical brings an original live score that buzzes with an 80s-inspired synthesised energy. It centres around the inspiring, sometimes heart-breaking, stories of teachers, students and activists impacted by the legislation...Alongside a drag Margaret Thatcher.

The production follows the course of real events. It uses verbatim accounts from people who lived through the times that led to the enactment of Section 28. There are stark echoes of today’s governmental discourse about sexuality and gender identities. It tells the story of what happens when a community fights back against moral panic, discrimination, and public misinformation.

Male homosexuality had been deemed a criminal offence in Britain as far back as the rule of Henry VIII. It is thought that the King brought in the ‘Buggery Act 1533’ as a tactical move. He wanted to ensure laws of morality were the concern of the state, not the church.

Although ambiguous in its wording, over the centuries the law was used to criminalise sexual acts between men. It was eventually replaced in the 19th century by the Offences Against the Person Act, and The Criminal Law Amendment Act, which explicitly criminalised any acts of “gross indecency” between men.

Again, the vague meaning of gross indecency left the law open to interpretation. Men could be persecuted for any kind of sexual act, or intimate behaviour, with another man. Meanwhile, female homosexuality has never been criminalised in Britain.

In the 1950s a number of high-profile men were convicted of ‘homsexual offences’, including Enigma Code-breaker, Alan Turing. Subsequently, the government commissioned a report to assess if homosexuality should remain criminalised.

The report was published in 1957. It concluded that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence". A whole decade of debate followed, until 1967 when homosexuality was decriminalised for men aged over 21.

We have come a long way since then, but it took until 2016 for men who were cautioned or convicted for homosexual acts to be retroactively pardoned. This wide-spread exoneration is unofficially known as the Alan Turning Law, who was himself posthumously pardoned by the Queen in 2014.

The devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic started in the early 1980s. Its impact on culture and society is undeniably linked to a rise in public homophobia that led to Section 28. It was initially thought to be a disease that applied only to gay men, as they were its first victims.

Until it was understood that anyone could be infected, HIV/AIDS was colloquially known as the Gay Cancer or GRID, meaning Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. The spread of AIDS decimated the gay community, and deepened the stigma against them. Homosexuality had been decriminalised less than 20 years prior. Suddenly, the gay community was being publically vilified and victimised again. They were mistreated in hospitals, judged, and to encouraged stop engaging in sexual acts once more.

The consequences of the epidemic are still felt today with a missing generation of gay men. Their influence over culture, politics, society, and the younger generations of LGBTQ+ people is lost. Those who survived the epidemic, or who lived long enough to receive treatment, were left with devastation. Many of their support networks, livelihoods, communities, and loved ones were gone. The ongoing fight for gay rights and LGBTQ+ equality could have taken a different path had there not been a loss of this magnitude.

In the late 1980s a series of controversies involving books gained media attention. These books were allegedly about homosexuality, or contained graphic depictions of homosexual acts. It was claimed they were available to young children through schools and libraries. This sparked a public outcry; it was deemed inappropriate for children to learn about homosexuality as part of sex education.

Because of these media stories, concerns were raised in Parliament that left-wing local authorities were providing children with pro-homosexual material. It was thought they were thereby endorsing homosexuality, which was widely deemed morally wrong.

The success of Section 28 was cemented by these controversies. The law stated that local authorities should not “intentionally promote homosexuality” or allow the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" in any schools they maintained. It also meant local authorities couldn’t allocate funds to LGBTQ+* support groups meaning many eventually shut down.

(*Whilst the term LGBTQ+ was not used at the time, we have replaced historic terminology to be more inclusive and representative of those who were directly affected by Section 28.)

The night before Section 28 became law in May 1988, several national protests were staged by lesbians. This included a group abseiling into Parliament, and a wild invasion of the news live on BBC1. Despite this, the law came into existence, and millions of young people would go on to attend school without any support and resources for understanding, or respecting LGBTQ+ identities.

Whilst stigma against the gay community had been clear and present in society, there had also been some movements towards equality along the way. Groups such as Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners and Lesbians Against Pit Closures had formed strong bonds with labour unions during the miners’ strikes in 1984-85. This had led to Labour adopting a resolution to criminalise discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

Section 28 served to obliterate this kind of progress, yet after the law was passed some local authorities still adopted anti-discrimination policies to counter homophobia. Others produced literature and guides on how to provide support for students without breaking the law, as did the Library Association.

Towards the end of the 1990s positive perspectives on homosexuality, and the presence of openly gay figures in media and culture became more common. The New Labour government worked to repeal Section 28. This finally happened in Scotland in the year 2000, and in England and Wales in 2003.

The oppressive law galvanised the gay community and its allies over the 15 or so years it was in place. Ultimately, it brought forth a growth in the British Gay Rights movement. It is directly linked to the formation of groups such as Stonewall, who were instrumental in the successful campaign for fully repealing Section 28 in the 2000s.

Breach is an award-winning theatre and film company that presents real stories in innovative ways to explore different perspectives. They are committed to rigorous research whilst creating playful and bold work. They are unafraid of being political, passionate and subversive.

After the Act will be on at the Connaught Theatre, Wednesday, November 6. Don’t miss your chance to experience this euphoric and wholly relevant performance.

Content Advice: This show features references to suicide and child abuse, and uses homophobic language