As the war on the queer community continues in this country and Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis tries to erase any and all mention of the word gay imagine my surprise when I learned that this shit has already happened. The 44-year-old wanna-be dictator who is behind the Don’t Say Gay law is no diabolic mastermind. Well, maybe he is but he is not a creative one. He’s a simple copycat.
Picture it. The UK. 1988. Things are about to change drastically for the LGBTQ youth in England when Section becomes the law of the land. The amendment stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality. Or promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship“
What does that exactly mean? As previously reported by Newround,
“This meant that school teachers were effectively banned from talking to or educating people about homosexuality. Homosexuality is when a person has a relationship with someone of the same sex. The law was unclear about what ‘promoting’ gay relationships meant, so many teachers were scared to talk about homosexuality, even to help their students, in case they were breaking the law. It meant that children and young people growing up in the 90s didn’t see or hear about same-sex relationships, whether that was in books or in lessons.
If you take out “in the 90s” from the above sentence you would think we were talking about us here in the States today. word for word. So how did the people of the UK deal with this? The queer community, as we always do band together, mobilized, and fought back. One of those that fought back, Sir Ian McKellen, who attended a protest in Manchester in 1988. At the time it was one of the largest LGBT demonstrations held in the UK.
In her brilliant Oscar-winning performance in Judy, Renee Zellweger comforted two of her fans who invited her over for a late dinner one night. Throughout the scene, sadness hung over the group, with one of the men admitting to Ms. Garland how and why they were unable to attend her last show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_soItj3D7g
Picture it. The UK. 2000. Scotland was the first to repeal the law. England and Wales followed in 2003. 12 years is a long time to be silenced, and intimidated, harassed, and felt to be made less down. It is heartbreaking. And it is happening here.
We cannot let it take 12 years for our queer youth to be able to say the word gay in their schools. For more information on how to get involved in fighting the “Don’t Say Gay” laws contact GLSEN.
(**This post is solely the opinion of this contributing writer and may not reflect the opinion of other writers, staff or owners of Instinct magazine.)
Source: BBC
