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40 “LGBT History Month is a thing!” The story of an equal rights campaign

  • Sue Sanders
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Social Policy First Hand
This chapter is in the book Social Policy First Hand

Abstract

In 2016 someone said to me, “LGBT History Month is a thing!”

I agree. It is a vibrant, loving celebration of all things lesbian gay bisexual and trans (LGBT), across the UK every February. By 2016, it had been going for 11 years. There have been literally thousands of events up and down the country, from big conferences backed by local authorities, universities or unions, to exhibitions in libraries and museums, events in pubs, clubs theatres and churches. Many are organised like LGBT History Month itself is, by unpaid volunteers. Some are now embedded in institutions’ zeitgeist, so are part of each year’s calendar.

Prior to the establishment of LGBT History Month in 2005, positive media images of LGBT people were few and far between. Section 28 of the UK Local Government Act 1988 stated:

A local authority shall not—

(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;

(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.

It had cast a long shadow. Though there were no prosecutions under Section 28 in England, Wales and Scotland, its censoring effect had been all-powerful, particularly in schools.

Censorship and self-censorship meant that children were denied information about the existence of LGBT people in the past or present. This constituted a denial, therefore, of the rich and various contributions made by them to society, here in Britain and round the world.

We had been ‘invisibilised’ consciously and unconsciously and we needed to change that. In 2003, Section 28 was repealed and Schools OUT could see that more laws were in the pipeline to promote human rights for LGBT people in the UK.

Abstract

In 2016 someone said to me, “LGBT History Month is a thing!”

I agree. It is a vibrant, loving celebration of all things lesbian gay bisexual and trans (LGBT), across the UK every February. By 2016, it had been going for 11 years. There have been literally thousands of events up and down the country, from big conferences backed by local authorities, universities or unions, to exhibitions in libraries and museums, events in pubs, clubs theatres and churches. Many are organised like LGBT History Month itself is, by unpaid volunteers. Some are now embedded in institutions’ zeitgeist, so are part of each year’s calendar.

Prior to the establishment of LGBT History Month in 2005, positive media images of LGBT people were few and far between. Section 28 of the UK Local Government Act 1988 stated:

A local authority shall not—

(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;

(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.

It had cast a long shadow. Though there were no prosecutions under Section 28 in England, Wales and Scotland, its censoring effect had been all-powerful, particularly in schools.

Censorship and self-censorship meant that children were denied information about the existence of LGBT people in the past or present. This constituted a denial, therefore, of the rich and various contributions made by them to society, here in Britain and round the world.

We had been ‘invisibilised’ consciously and unconsciously and we needed to change that. In 2003, Section 28 was repealed and Schools OUT could see that more laws were in the pipeline to promote human rights for LGBT people in the UK.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of figures and tables vii
  4. Foreword viii
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Service users and social policy: an introduction
  7. Challenging injustice: the importance of collective ownership of social policy 14
  8. Participation and solidarity in a changing welfare state 22
  9. Social policy in developing countries: a post-colonial critique and participatory inquiry 33
  10. Advancing sustainability: developing participatory social policy in the context of environmental disasters 43
  11. Social policy and disability 51
  12. A case study of children’s participation in health policy and practice 62
  13. Who owns co-production? 74
  14. Critiquing and reconceiving Beveridge’s ‘five giant evils’: key areas of British post-war social policy from a lived experience perspective
  15. Rethinking disabled people’s rights to work and contribute 86
  16. Talking policy as a patient 95
  17. ‘We don’t deal with people, we deal with bricks and mortar’: a lived experience perspective on UK health and housing policy 98
  18. Education (ignorance) addressing inclusive education: the issues and its importance from a participatory perspective 103
  19. “For work, we came here to find work”: migrant Roma employment and the labour of language 107
  20. The contribution of service user knowledges
  21. Disability policy and lived experience: reflections from regional Australia 120
  22. Renewing epistemologies: service user knowledge 132
  23. Pornography, feminist epistemology and changing public policy 142
  24. Making social policy internationally: a participatory research perspective 147
  25. An inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy
  26. Disabled children’s lives: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 163
  27. Troubled youth and troubling social policy: mental health from a Mad Studies perspective 172
  28. Disability: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 181
  29. Independent living from a Black Disabled Woman’s perspective 188
  30. Food poverty and the policy context in Ireland 195
  31. Implementing race equality policies in British health and social care: a perspective from experience 205
  32. Participatory approaches to social policy in relation to ageing 211
  33. Death, dying and digital stories 223
  34. Transforming social policy
  35. People acting collectively can be powerful 233
  36. Their participation and ours: competing visions of empowerment 243
  37. A participatory approach to professional practice 251
  38. Dreams of justice 257
  39. Sustainable-participatory social policy 262
  40. Participatory social policy in a large EU research project 277
  41. Campaigning and change
  42. Approaches to activism
  43. ‘What is strong, not what is wrong’ 292
  44. Participatory social policy and social change: exploring the role of social entrepreneurship linked to forms of social and micro enterprises in the field of social care 297
  45. Public duty, whistleblowing and scandal: influences on public policy 306
  46. ‘Informed gender practice in acute mental health’: when policy makes sense 311
  47. Making the case for single sex wards 314
  48. #JusticeforLB: in search of truth, accountability and justice 319
  49. The role of online platforms and social media
  50. Guerilla policy: new platforms for making policy from below 323
  51. A Magna Carta for learning disabled people 327
  52. Pat’s Petition: The emerging role of social media and the internet 332
  53. Breaking down barriers
  54. Inclusion and difference in the formulation and operation of social policy
  55. “LGBT History Month is a thing!” The story of an equal rights campaign 338
  56. Progressing gender recognition and trans rights in the UK 343
  57. User-led approaches to social policy
  58. Transforming professional training and education – a gap mending approach: the PowerUs European partnership 349
  59. Grassroots tackling policy: the making of the ‘Spartacus Report’ 355
  60. Involvement for influence: developing the 4Pi Involvement Standards 362
  61. Participatory research and evaluation
  62. From expert to service user: challenging how lived experience is demeaned 369
  63. Participatory methodologies involving marginalised perspectives 376
  64. Developing the evidence to challenge ‘welfare reform’: the road to ‘Cash Not Care’ 389
  65. Service user-controlled research for evidence-based policymaking 394
  66. Participatory citizenship, gender and human trafficking in Nepal 406
  67. Experiential knowledge in mental health policy and legislation: can we ever change the agenda? 418
  68. Conclusion 427
  69. Notes on contributors 435
  70. Index 447
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