In Living Memory | Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin

The educational book 'Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin' was written with a view to help reduce anti-gay prejudice. For some, however, the volume was little more than homosexual propaganda and the moral outcry that followed led to a ban on the 'promotion of homosexuality', enacted by Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act. Jolyon Jenkins hears from some of the individuals involved in the debates about Section 28 at the time and speaks to Susanne Bosche, the author of the book that sparked the controversy.

Although no prosecutions ever arose as a consequence of Section 28, many schools chose to 'self-censor' and withdrew services that might have fallen foul of this change to the Local Government Act. The amendment was repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of the UK.