"We need to be careful about giving children access to the Internet"

[kaberett]

I was a queer teen under section 28. I say I was brought up by the Internet, and what I mean is: the Internet told me that people like me could exist, and exist happily and without judgment, at least some of the time.

And now, after that thoroughly vile FB conversation, I am going to go to Bar Wotever and watch my girlfriend sing cock rock, because I'm an adult now.

Comments

[rmc28]

Summarised wikipedia:

Section 28 was a law passed in the late 1980s which 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".

It was repealed in 2000 in Scotland and in 2003 in the rest of Great Britain.

It covered my entire time at secondary school and what limited sex education I received through school, and is probably why I didn't really understand I was bisexual until I was in my twenties. (Yes there was an LGBT soc at university, but I knew I wasn't L and they didn't really talk much about the B or T parts). By the time it was repealed where I lived, I was engaged to a man.

I adore my spouse utterly, but the way society kept me in ignorance, deliberately, of my full self and my potential choices, will never not be a source of anger.

At least my children will have better knowledge, and at least they will be able to marry who they wish, if they wish.

[quirkytizzy]

Thank you for this explanation. I didn't know all that. It's funny, here in the States a lot of us liberals tend to look at the UK and see your systems as all pretty enlightened. I didn't know the struggle was that difficult over there. It's baffling to me that it took until 2003 for that to fall away.

Even here in the States, we didn't make it illegal to at least talk about it. I can see where that would EXTREMELY damaging to LGBT youths. Trap them into these horrible places their whole lives, even if some limited information (like the L and G part of the equation, but not the others) is out there. It's not enough.

I get that about the anger at society thing. Some things can't be let go of, especially when it comes to who you are being shoved aside like that.