40 “LGBT History Month is a thing!” The story of an equal rights campaign
-
Sue Sanders
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 In 2003, Section 28 was repealed and Schools OUT could see that more laws were in the pipeline to promote human rights for LGBT people in the UK.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
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables vii
- Foreword viii
- Introduction 1
-
Service users and social policy: an introduction
- Challenging injustice: the importance of collective ownership of social policy 14
- Participation and solidarity in a changing welfare state 22
- Social policy in developing countries: a post-colonial critique and participatory inquiry 33
- Advancing sustainability: developing participatory social policy in the context of environmental disasters 43
- Social policy and disability 51
- A case study of children’s participation in health policy and practice 62
- Who owns co-production? 74
-
Critiquing and reconceiving Beveridge’s ‘five giant evils’: key areas of British post-war social policy from a lived experience perspective
- Rethinking disabled people’s rights to work and contribute 86
- Talking policy as a patient 95
- ‘We don’t deal with people, we deal with bricks and mortar’: a lived experience perspective on UK health and housing policy 98
- Education (ignorance) addressing inclusive education: the issues and its importance from a participatory perspective 103
- “For work, we came here to find work”: migrant Roma employment and the labour of language 107
-
The contribution of service user knowledges
- Disability policy and lived experience: reflections from regional Australia 120
- Renewing epistemologies: service user knowledge 132
- Pornography, feminist epistemology and changing public policy 142
- Making social policy internationally: a participatory research perspective 147
-
An inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy
- Disabled children’s lives: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 163
- Troubled youth and troubling social policy: mental health from a Mad Studies perspective 172
- Disability: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 181
- Independent living from a Black Disabled Woman’s perspective 188
- Food poverty and the policy context in Ireland 195
- Implementing race equality policies in British health and social care: a perspective from experience 205
- Participatory approaches to social policy in relation to ageing 211
- Death, dying and digital stories 223
-
Transforming social policy
- People acting collectively can be powerful 233
- Their participation and ours: competing visions of empowerment 243
- A participatory approach to professional practice 251
- Dreams of justice 257
- Sustainable-participatory social policy 262
- Participatory social policy in a large EU research project 277
-
Campaigning and change
-
Approaches to activism
- ‘What is strong, not what is wrong’ 292
- 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
- Public duty, whistleblowing and scandal: influences on public policy 306
- ‘Informed gender practice in acute mental health’: when policy makes sense 311
- Making the case for single sex wards 314
- #JusticeforLB: in search of truth, accountability and justice 319
-
The role of online platforms and social media
- Guerilla policy: new platforms for making policy from below 323
- A Magna Carta for learning disabled people 327
- Pat’s Petition: The emerging role of social media and the internet 332
-
Breaking down barriers
-
Inclusion and difference in the formulation and operation of social policy
- “LGBT History Month is a thing!” The story of an equal rights campaign 338
- Progressing gender recognition and trans rights in the UK 343
-
User-led approaches to social policy
- Transforming professional training and education – a gap mending approach: the PowerUs European partnership 349
- Grassroots tackling policy: the making of the ‘Spartacus Report’ 355
- Involvement for influence: developing the 4Pi Involvement Standards 362
-
Participatory research and evaluation
- From expert to service user: challenging how lived experience is demeaned 369
- Participatory methodologies involving marginalised perspectives 376
- Developing the evidence to challenge ‘welfare reform’: the road to ‘Cash Not Care’ 389
- Service user-controlled research for evidence-based policymaking 394
- Participatory citizenship, gender and human trafficking in Nepal 406
- Experiential knowledge in mental health policy and legislation: can we ever change the agenda? 418
- Conclusion 427
- Notes on contributors 435
- Index 447
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables vii
- Foreword viii
- Introduction 1
-
Service users and social policy: an introduction
- Challenging injustice: the importance of collective ownership of social policy 14
- Participation and solidarity in a changing welfare state 22
- Social policy in developing countries: a post-colonial critique and participatory inquiry 33
- Advancing sustainability: developing participatory social policy in the context of environmental disasters 43
- Social policy and disability 51
- A case study of children’s participation in health policy and practice 62
- Who owns co-production? 74
-
Critiquing and reconceiving Beveridge’s ‘five giant evils’: key areas of British post-war social policy from a lived experience perspective
- Rethinking disabled people’s rights to work and contribute 86
- Talking policy as a patient 95
- ‘We don’t deal with people, we deal with bricks and mortar’: a lived experience perspective on UK health and housing policy 98
- Education (ignorance) addressing inclusive education: the issues and its importance from a participatory perspective 103
- “For work, we came here to find work”: migrant Roma employment and the labour of language 107
-
The contribution of service user knowledges
- Disability policy and lived experience: reflections from regional Australia 120
- Renewing epistemologies: service user knowledge 132
- Pornography, feminist epistemology and changing public policy 142
- Making social policy internationally: a participatory research perspective 147
-
An inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy
- Disabled children’s lives: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 163
- Troubled youth and troubling social policy: mental health from a Mad Studies perspective 172
- Disability: an inclusive life course and developmental approach to social policy 181
- Independent living from a Black Disabled Woman’s perspective 188
- Food poverty and the policy context in Ireland 195
- Implementing race equality policies in British health and social care: a perspective from experience 205
- Participatory approaches to social policy in relation to ageing 211
- Death, dying and digital stories 223
-
Transforming social policy
- People acting collectively can be powerful 233
- Their participation and ours: competing visions of empowerment 243
- A participatory approach to professional practice 251
- Dreams of justice 257
- Sustainable-participatory social policy 262
- Participatory social policy in a large EU research project 277
-
Campaigning and change
-
Approaches to activism
- ‘What is strong, not what is wrong’ 292
- 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
- Public duty, whistleblowing and scandal: influences on public policy 306
- ‘Informed gender practice in acute mental health’: when policy makes sense 311
- Making the case for single sex wards 314
- #JusticeforLB: in search of truth, accountability and justice 319
-
The role of online platforms and social media
- Guerilla policy: new platforms for making policy from below 323
- A Magna Carta for learning disabled people 327
- Pat’s Petition: The emerging role of social media and the internet 332
-
Breaking down barriers
-
Inclusion and difference in the formulation and operation of social policy
- “LGBT History Month is a thing!” The story of an equal rights campaign 338
- Progressing gender recognition and trans rights in the UK 343
-
User-led approaches to social policy
- Transforming professional training and education – a gap mending approach: the PowerUs European partnership 349
- Grassroots tackling policy: the making of the ‘Spartacus Report’ 355
- Involvement for influence: developing the 4Pi Involvement Standards 362
-
Participatory research and evaluation
- From expert to service user: challenging how lived experience is demeaned 369
- Participatory methodologies involving marginalised perspectives 376
- Developing the evidence to challenge ‘welfare reform’: the road to ‘Cash Not Care’ 389
- Service user-controlled research for evidence-based policymaking 394
- Participatory citizenship, gender and human trafficking in Nepal 406
- Experiential knowledge in mental health policy and legislation: can we ever change the agenda? 418
- Conclusion 427
- Notes on contributors 435
- Index 447