23 May 1988

Shared from Working Class History

On this day, 23 May 1988, four lesbians, including Booan Temple, burst into a BBC news studio during a live broadcast and called out: “Stop Section 28!” The protest was against the new anti-gay law, Section 28, that was about to go into effect at midnight and had received little if any critical news coverage.

Pushed by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, Section 28 sought to prohibit the “promotion” or “acceptability” of homosexuality in local authorities and schools. While the four women were arrested, they were never charged, likely due to the BBC not wanting to give the protest any further attention.
The homophobic mass media unsurprisingly ignored their message and spun the protest in such a way so as to justify the discrimination of LGBTQ people.
Even still, the protest inspired many LGBTQ people, especially younger folk, to keep up the fight. The law would be in place until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales.