Events tagged with "Clause 28"
Birmingham Parents Support Group - FFLAG
Birmingham Parents Support Group, is a branch of Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG)FFLAG is a national organisation established as a national umbrella group in 1993 for the growing number of parents support groups round the country. On...
Birmingham Stop the Clause
Birmingham Stop the Clause was a political group set up in to campaign against Clause 28 in 1988. The group co-ordinated support for the anti clause rallies, such as the massive Clause 28 march in Manchester in February 1988 and in London in March 19...
Clause 28 (also known as Section 28) enacted
Section 28 of the Local Government Act (also known as Clause 28) became law on 24 May 1988 requiring that... 'A local government shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality' or 'prom...
Clause 28 Marches
Major rallies against Clause 28 were held in Manchester in February 1988 and in London in April 1988, with many people attending from Birmingham and the surrounding areas. Five coaches organised by Birmingham Stop the Clause group were filled and man...
Jill Knight
Jill Knight was elected Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston in 1966, which she held in successive elections until 1997, when she retired from parliament. She was an active member of the right wing Conservative pressure group ‘The Monday Clu...
Legislation impacting on gay men and lesbians
A summary of the legislation impacting on gay men and lesbians follows. More detail can be found in related events and memories.1900At the turn of the century, the 1885 Act which included the offence of ‘gross indecency’ was being used to arrest and...
Lesbian Rights
During the emergence of both feminist politics and gay politics in the late sixties and seventies, many lesbians chose to fight for their rights within the context of the Women's Liberation Movement , rather than gay liberation, believing that they h...
Memories tagged with "Clause 28"
Attitudes to gays at secondary school in Four Oaks
" We had a few pop stars that were camp and flamboyant. John Inman was on the telly in the 70s and 80s in Are You Being Served? and Larry Grayson. They weren't any kind of positive role models. All I saw was gay as being effeminate or camp. At ...
Clause 28 caused so much anger
“I got involved in campaigns, firstly against Clause 28 back in 1988. It was one of the best things that happened to the gay community. The Clause caused such anger amongst non politicised lesbians and gay men at the end of the fear and homophobia th...
Clause 28 March Manchester
This report from 'In the Pink', March 1988, discusses the West Midlands contingent at the massive anti Clause 28 rally in Manchester.20,500 people, lesbians, gay men and their supporters demonstrated against Clause 28 in Manchester on 20th February, ...
Clause 28 sparked by tabloid fuelled paranoia
Cllr Steve Bedser explained the background to Clause 28.“Clause 28 was sparked from tabloid paranoia, constantly talking about ‘loony left’ authorities in London, Islington, and Camden, the places that created people like Ken Livingstone, who is now ...
Coming out through the NUT
Coming out through the NUT in 1988“I came out through the NUT which was really strange because these days it’s all male dominated. People knew but I wasn’t out. When Clause 28 came out it just made me so angry. I was a good teacher and what I felt th...
Donations to gay causes
“Although my club (Subway City) is no longer a gay club, it’s frequented by straight people, I still use all the money we raise for charity, about £60K a year, to gay charities (except Children in Need) and the money I make is donated to the politica...
Galvanising community action against Clause 28
“I was very involved in Birmingham and Aston University Gay Societies; I and a woman, Rachel, decided we needed to do something about Clause 28, so we produced leaflets and on New Years Eve 1987 when it was going through Parliament, stood outside The...
Helping to organise the first Pride 1996
Trevor joined the Birmingham Pride committee (The Triangle Committee) in November 1996, which was set up to organise the first Pride in May 1997. Trevor was the Secretary; there were about ten people involved on the executive committee and they broug...
Jill Knight's lies
The following article from 'In the Pink' March 1998 discusses Jill Knight's role in pushing forward the proposed Clause 28.LIES, DAMN LIES & DAME JILL'S LIESDame Jill Knight, Tory MP for Edgbaston, self-appointed guardian of the nation's morals, ...
Marches in London and Manchester
“There was never a Clause 28 demonstration in Birmingham, the gay community wasn’t confident enough but we went to marches in Manchester and London. On the massive London march some extreme left wing militants from the SWP (Socialist Workers’ Party) ...
Promoting homosexuality at the Library!
In 1987 Inge began working for Birmingham Public Libraries, shortly before Clause 28 was passed in 1988. She was involved in campaigning against it, but felt she was living a dichotomy: “All this out and proud stuff on the streets of Balsall Heath, w...
Teachers didn't need Clause 28 to be silenced!
During this period in the late eighties Mary, a teacher, was still paranoid about being found out by pupils, and said “You didn’t need Clause 28 to be silenced!” However she was spotted coming out of the Jester by some kids and it all blew up. T...
Women's events late 80s
Inge said there were a number of benefit events some were mixed but mostly women. e.g. “We used to hire rooms above pubs, school halls etc. in the late 80s to mid 90s.g. a Stop Clause 28 at Moseley Dance Centre and Peacock's disco, upstairs in the Im...