Key issues - Fighting Homophobia

Perhaps the most shameful ideological retreat before the bigots has been the failure of a Labour government with a majority of 180 (and even more on this issue) to repeal the Tory government’s notorious Section 28, which set out to prevent local authorities spending money to "promote homosexuality".

It was brought in under Margaret Thatcher in 1988, following tabloid articles about "loony left" councils spending taxpayers’ money on gay and lesbian groups.

No local authority has been prosecuted for breaching Section 28, but it has been invoked more than 30 times to prevent projects going ahead.

Although it has never directly applied to schools, the existence of such a proscription has served to impose a widespread "self-censorship" on teachers - thus reinforcing prejudice among the young, and discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Here, as on several issues, there is a stark contrast between Labour’s attitude north and south of the border. The minority Labour administration in the Scottish Parliament had to tough out a vicious populist campaign backed by the Catholic church and a "referendum" financed by bigoted millionaire Brian Souter (which showed a hefty 87% of votes against repeal) in order to carry out its pledge to repeal the Scottish equivalent of Section 28.

But Blair’s government, with its huge majority, and facing no such opposition, bottled out of a fight with a handful of Tory backwoods people in the House of Lords. The retreat was no accident. Opinion polls had suggested to the Millbank mafia that New Labour was being seen as insufficiently hard-line in supporting the traditional notion of the (heterosexual) family.

We say that Section 28 must be swept away by a government committed to liberate individuals and their sexuality from the stultifying "morality" of a Tory Party with its eyes on the "Victorian values" of the 19th century, and the Catholic Church hoping to distract attention from its clergy’s appalling record of child abuse.

At the same time we fight for laws which will outlaw discrimination against lesbians, gay men and transgendered people at work. It is an outrage that people can loose their jobs or be refused promotion at work solely on the basis of their sexuality, and face regular harassment on the job.

Lesbians, gay men and transgendered people often face discrimination in other areas too. Same sex partners rarely have the same rights as heterosexual ones - though in some cases discrimination is against any unmarried couples. We are opposed to any such discrimination and support the right of lesbians and gay men to organise against their oppression.

John Lister is a leading health activist.