Content warning: this episode contains conversations around homophobia and transphobia.
This episode explores Section 28 and the impact it had on LGBTQ+ pupils and also on the teachers who were forced by law to implement it. What is Section 28? Section 28 was a law that was passed by the 1988 Conservative government that stopped councils and schools "promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. LGBTQ+ campaigners rejected the law and were active in fighting for change, and the law was eventually stopped in Scotland in 2000 and in the rest of the United Kingdom in 2003.
We first hear 5 oral history extracts about people who remember Section 28 and homophobia in their schools. These were collected by OurStory Scotland, a charity that collects, archives and presents the life stories and experiences of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender) community in Scotland. To find out more about OurStory, visit: www.ourstoryscotland.org.uk
We then hear a conversation between Katy Wilson-Scott, senior coordinator at Kairos Women+ and a lesbian student during the early 2000s, Kate Clarke, Kairos chair of trustees, volunteer and a teacher/headteacher during and after Section 28, and Nicky Irmrie, volunteer at OurStory Scotland and an LGBTQ+ teenager in the early 1990s. They will share their perspectives on how the policy affected pupils and silenced LGBTQ+ voices.
Lastly we reflect on more recent changes to the Scottish curriculum as part of Time for Inclusive Education policy, including the Sapphic Scots ‘Poem 49’ of The Maitland Quarto Manuscripts written in the 16th Century. This is a shift towards a more representative curriculum and shows the progress we’ve made in Scottish education since Section 28 was abandoned in 2000. To read more about the poem and other resources included in the new curriculum, visit: www.tie.scot.
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