Scotland Repeals Section 28: Victory for LGBTQ+ Rights
Scotland voted 99 to 17 to kill a law that had never actually prosecuted anyone. Section 28, passed in 1988, banned councils and schools from "promoting" homosexuality — but no one could agree what promotion even meant. Teachers stayed silent. Librarians pulled books. The chilling effect was real even if the courtrooms stayed empty. Scotland moved first, three years before England and Wales followed in 2003. And the law that spent 15 years terrifying people into silence turned out to have no teeth. Just the fear of them.
June 21, 2000
26 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on June 21
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