When I was at school, you could have lost your job for having this article on the school premises. Section 28 – which stated that local authority organisations “shall not promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship” – was firmly in place preventing any kind of support or acknowledgement of LGBT+ pupils, family or staff.
Despite the repeal of this in 2000, the shadow of Section 28 is often still at large in our schools: teachers are apprehensive about topics they know little about, heads can be unconfident about tackling issues directly, staff do not feel safe to be out in school workplaces, and last LGBT History Month a school in the North of England cancelled a visit by a young adult author because she was a trans-woman.
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