Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.371.25
Object Name
badge
Title
Trade unionists against clause 28
Events
Section 28
Date
Around 1988
Description
Small badge with black and white text reading "TRADE UNIONISTS AGAINST CLAUSE 28" with a pink triangle.
Section 28 (also known as Clause 28) was a law that prohibited the âpromotion of homosexualityâ by local authorities, covering schools, hospitals, libraries, and other publicly funded places. It was introduced by Margaret Thatcherâs Conservative government in 1988, and was repealed by the Labour Party, in Scotland in 2000, and in England and Wales in 2003. It further marginalised LGBTQIA people by isolating them from their communities and allowed negative attitudes and misinformation to spread as it prohibited LGBTQIA education in schools.
The pink triangle symbol was reclaimed by the gay community after originally being a symbol of persecution. The symbol originated as a pink triangle cloth patch, used to identify gay men in prisons and concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Its reclaimed use spread through the gay liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s and is now positively associated with the wider LGBTQIA community.
Multimedia
