One teacher with experience of section 28 said: My research showed that LGBTQ+ teachers’ principal fear remains that parents of students they teach will associate their identity with hypersexuality and paedophilia. I found that teachers who worked during the section 28 era remain more cautious, vigilant and anxious in their school workplaces than those LGBTQ+ teachers entering the profession more recently. Fifteen years after section 28 was repealed, I surveyed LGBTQ+ teachers who had taught under the law and compared their responses with LGBTQ+ teachers who entered teaching after section 28 had been repealed. LGBTQ+ teachers are similarly, deeply affected.
I couldn’t talk to my teachers, though I didn’t know why until years later … I now try to be the role model I never had at school, but I know some parents are not happy. I thought I was the only person who was gay at my school. As one student who went on to become a teacher said: Many are still scarred by the absence of any pastoral or mental health support at the most challenging period of their adolescence. Research shows that section 28 left a damaging legacy for the LGBTQ+ young people who were students at the time. Caroline Brehman / EPA-EFE Lasting legacy LGBTQ+ teachers were left in fear, believing that their identity alone was grounds for dismissal from their job.įlorida Governor Ron DeSantis has signalled support for the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Teachers believed they would lose their jobs if they gave advice and support to LGBTQ+ students, or challenged homophobic language and bullying. As state schools were at the time led by local authorities, section 28 prevented schools from teaching the acceptability of homosexuality as a “pretended family relationship”. This bill has strong echoes of section 28, the 1988 law that prevented local authorities in the UK from promoting homosexuality. Florida’s bill also allows parents to sue school districts for damages if they believe a teacher has broken the law. The parental rights in education bill, labelled the “don’t say gay” bill by critics, would also prevent teachers and school counsellors from giving support to LGBTQ+ students, without first getting permission from their parents.įlorida follows other states with similar statutes restricting classroom discussion of same-sex relationships or mandating that sex education teaches “ honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual marriage”. Florida lawmakers have advanced a bill that would bar teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom.