Politics

LGBT+ Tories put in ‘section 28’ at party conference and the irony wasn’t lost on anybody

LGBT Conservatives were placed in Section 28 at the Conservative party conference

LGBT Conservatives were placed in Section 28 at the Conservative party conference. (Twitter)

The Conservatives’ LGBT+ group is being spectacularly trolled on social media after it was given a very unfortunate section at the party’s conference.

The LGBT Conservatives group was placed in section 28 at the conference – which immediately evoked haunting memories of Margaret Thatcher’s homophobic law of the same name.

The infamous law banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools and by local authorities. The law was repealed in 2003 in England and Wales, but its legacy continues to hang over LGBT+ people who were educated under its shadow.

That’s why queer people were horrified and amused in equal measure when they saw that the LGBT Conservatives were put in section 28 at the party conference.

Countless people rushed to social media to poke fun at the Tories for the slightly embarrassing faux-pas.

It’s not hard to see why LGBT+ people were so quick to notice that the LGBT Conservatives were placed in section 28 at the conference – the law caused significant harm to many queer people in Britain from its introduction in 1988 to its dissolution in 2003.

The horrific measures – which were inextricably linked to the AIDS epidemic – meant that LGBT+ people were left in the dark, unable to access vital information to help them better understand their identities.

David Cameron – who voted against the repeal of Section 28 in 2003 – apologised for the harm caused by the law in 2009, saying it was “offensive to gay people”.

The Tories were criticised for allowing the LGB Alliance to attend the conference

As if the memory of Section 28 haunting the Conservative Party Conference wasn’t enough, the anti-trans LGB Alliance was also in attendance.

The Tories faced condemnation for allowing the organisation, which campaigns against “the damaging theory of gender identity”, to set up a stall at the conference.

Kate Harris, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, told ITV News that they received a “warm welcome” from the Conservative Party and that they were looking forward to “publicising” their cause.

She went on to claim that politicians who stand up for trans rights are “contorting themselves into ridiculous positions to defend idiotic ideas”.

Many LGBT+ people shared their frustration with the Conservative Party on social media after the news broke.

London Assembly member and LGBT+ Conservatives patron Andrew Boff told PinkNews that allowing the LGB Alliance to take part in the conference was “an enormous mistake”.

 

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