After Rights: The Shape of Inclusive Society

Talk by Angela Mason, Director of Stonewall 

I do not know whether a relatively small band of Conservative peers will overturn the clear majority that will undoubtedly vote for repeal in the House of Commons but, whatever the outcome of the debates, the purpose of Section 28 – to exclude lesbians and gay men from public life – and discourse has been remarkably unsuccessful.  It is sometimes hard to believe that more and more people will come tumbling out of the closet, but out they still come.  There are thriving lesbian and gay communities in all our major cities, transforming the parts that urban regeneration simply couldn’t reach.  Many institutions, the police, the trade unions, and increasingly the corporate sector recognise the discrimination that we have faced and the ethics of our case for rights and recognition.  

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