Don’t Say Gay
A feature-length documentary uncovering the story of Section 28, a legislation that banned the promotion of homosexuality in the UK
Remember when I said I was still doing some design things, and doing some other work?
That work has landed!
Today, my most personal project to date, Don’t Say Gay has landed on Kickstarter
Section 28 meant that;
- The progress being made for LGBTQ+ rights and inclusive education in the 80s was slowed down
- Many teachers had to hide their identity at work and couldn’t protect young people against homophobic bullying
- Homophobic bullying was a common occurrence with a blind eye turned to it
- Children who were LGBTQ+ and went to school from 1988 to 2003 grew up without any references to queer people in their education or knew they even had something to protest about
I need your help to make it a reality
Help us fund the first feature length film on Section 28, a legislation that banned the promotion of homosexuality in the UK, impacting a whole generation of young people. Bring this vital LGBTQ+ history to the big screen!
Section 28, known as 2A in Scotland was brought into legislation by the Tories in 1988. Margaret Thatcher, in a famous conference speech said that “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.”
When we’ve talked to people about Section 28, we’ve been met with blank faces. It is a significant piece of LGBTQ+ history that brought a community together for the first time to fight against the Government but it also separated and pushed another apart.
Some children were too young to see headlines about Section 28 or remember the AIDs crisis, and grew up not knowing that gay people existed. Without the internet, nothing in the media, no role models on television there was nothing to tell them how they were feeling was ‘ok’.
This was state sponsored homophobia
Conservative, Baroness Young said ‘Millions outside Parliament object to little children being perverted, diverted or converted from normal family life to a lifestyle which is desperately dangerous for society+extremely dangerous for them’
It’s only by looking back at history do we learn about how vigilant we need to be about the rights of marginalised people.
We want to make Don’t Say Gay into an accessible+mainstream movie so that future generations know what Section 28 was+how the media influenced Government
We were told by a funder that no one would go to the cinema to see a film about Section 28.
Help us prove that there is an audience for LGBTQ+ history films in the cinema.
So we’re coming straight to the community, you, to help us make this vital bit of LGBTQ+ history. We think generations to come, who admit they ‘have never heard of Section 28’ need to learn how a piece of legislation like this could move so quickly through parliament. How it brought a whole generation of people together to fight against it, and pushed a whole generation apart who were at school under it.
We have exactly one month to make this a success!
How can you help us?
There are heaps of rewards to choose from including posters, stickers and getting your names into the credits. Every donation counts!
You can pledge without a reward and also up your pledge if you really want to help us. We need to make a minimum of £35,000 to get the cameras rolling, but meeting our stretch goals will reduce the pressure later to find more funding
2. Buy a reward for someone else
Do you think an organisation could learn from a talk about Section 28 and LGBTQ+ rights? Pay it forward and buy them a reward.
3. Tell 10 people directly about this
Like the phone trees of the 80s where campaigners would call a list of people and cascade out communications, we’re asking you to do the same.
Let’s build a 21st phone tree. Directly text, message, email friends, family or contacts 10 people about the campaign and send them directly to our Kickstarter page. Ask them to do the same. You can use the copy below;
‘I’m helping Don’t Say Gay, a film about Section 28 which banned the promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities in the UK get funded.
It’s a vital piece of LGBTQ+ history that many people are unaware of. I want to help change that. Back the campaign on kickstarter here and send this directly to ten people you know. We’re making this for future generations to come. It’s only by looking back and learning from history that we realise how vigilant we need to be about the rights of marginalised communities moving forward.”
4. Send out to your mailing list
Do you have an organisation mailing list, or network you think would like to hear about this? Please send it on! Sharing our campaign is a powerful way to help us get our film funded
5. Share on social media
Have an instagram, TikTok, Twitter or Facebook account? Let your friends know you’re backing this and that we’re live. If helpful, copy the tweets below.
@section28film is live on @kickstarter! Help them make a film about Section 28, the legislation that banned the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in the UK in 1988. Back them here to make this vital piece of LGBTQ+ history hit the big screens https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dontsaygay/dont-say-gay
Section 28 showed how a Government could quickly pass legislation that paused progressive efforts on inclusive education, pushed teachers into the closet and silenced a whole generation of LGBTQ+ people. Help @section28film make a film of the history https://bit.ly/section28film
I’ve just funded @section28film to help make a film about a legislation which stopped Local Authorities from ‘promoting homosexuality’. Back it on @kickstarter to help future generations learn about this attack on the LGBTQ community by the Conservatives https://bit.ly/section28film
6. Flyer in your local town
Do you think there is a queer or community venue that could put a poster up or take flyers? Send us an email on section28film@gmail.com with the subject title ‘Flyer my town’ and we’ll get some to you if we can.
We’ve made a handy folder of resources including images for sharing on your Kickstarter and short film snippets here. Please use them and share widely
Thank you!
I’ve been working on this film for over a year. Interviewing campaigners, young people, teachers, pouring over boxes in archives and tracing people from tiny handwriting.
I have so many stories about Section 28 and the impact it had and the material to support it.
I am ready to make this film, I just need the funding to put all this on camera and buy the rights to the archive.
Thank you for believing in this and seeing how important this film is to make
More on section28film.com