On 21 June 2000, history was made when Scotland repealed Section 28 through one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the new Scottish Parliament. LGBT education was now lawful in Scotland after years of legislation stating that schools “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality”.
Twenty years have now passed since we started a school year in that new era. Even now, though, the shadows of the times that preceded it still loom in our school corridors. They may be fading, but it is a long, slow process.
As an openly gay teacher - and, in 2014, the first in Scotland to be given recognition by the General Teaching Council for Scotland for work in LGBT education - I have been at the forefront of all the progress and setbacks through the years: the good, the bad and the just.
In 2018, we reached a historic milestone when the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign - for which I lead the secondary education section - achieved a landmark success: the Scottish government announced its intention to introduce LGBT-inclusive education in all public schools, with cross-party support.
After 18 years, LGBT people would finally have a voice in classrooms, without its being a postcode lottery dependent on the passion or enthusiasm of a solitary teacher.
So, let’s have a look at the highlights from the diary of this gay teacher in Scotland over the past 20 years…
As an undergraduate teacher starting university, I want to change the world - I’m eager to learn and make a difference. I’ve started my journey and my classroom will be one of acceptance. The repeal has happened - although no training has been given to staff on how to deal with LGBT issues.
So, what can we discuss? What can we say? Are we allowed to talk about it now? The ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the UK armed forces has been lifted. Jack and Ethan are dating on Dawson’s Creek, Willow and Tara have kissed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and by the end of the year the age of consent is about to be changed from 18 to 16. Young people are watching gay people on TV and are talking about it to their friends in the playground, but PSE (personal and social education) classes still don’t talk about same-sex relationships, while gay teachers are still in the closet. LGBT groups are non-existent in schools across the country and posters from Stonewall, LGBT Youth Scotland and (the still to be formed) TIE are nowhere to be seen. There’s an urge to move forward but the steps are delicate, and it’s still whispers and trepidation.
I’m not that same raw and naive graduate any more; I’m now an openly gay teacher in my first school, but I’m having classroom management issues with a difficult S3 class. I’m newly qualified, trying to be authentic and wanting to succeed. I ask for help but instead of giving educational advice, my headteacher reflects on my being openly gay and assumes that this is the issue. I leave dejected and questioning why I feel like I’m back in high school under Section 28. Is this what my career will be like from now on?
I’ve been working in another school for three years now - a small rural school on the east coast of Scotland - and I’m loving it. It’s forward-thinking and the staff and students are a community. The Equality Act has come into play and things are slowly beginning to move. Stonewall posters (“Some people are gay - get over it”) are beginning to line the school corridors. A group of S3 students enters a film contest with Panasonic with a short documentary called It Gets Better, sending a message to all students that its school community is one of acceptance and equality. To the surprise of the group, they win the UK prize for global citizenship. The same young people create a LGBT school group that’s open to all and speak at a Stonewall conference about their work.
Another new school - one of the biggest in the West of Scotland - and a new council. I’m asked by the headteacher to use my knowledge of LGBT education to create training for staff, which will be mandatory for all teachers. I deliver equality training and give advice on how to feel confident in delivering LGBT-inclusive education, as well as on how to tackle homophobic and difficult language or opinions.
We are starting to see teachers wanting to do more. Stonewall is offering training for staff to move forward with embracing LGBT education in their schools, LGBT Youth Scotland has launched its Schools Charter programme - designed to ensure that schools proactively include young LGBT people - and posters for inclusion are now in classrooms and school corridors across the country. Faith schools are still a different story, but the Equality Act is helping things to move along a little.
I wear a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “GAY” to an LGBT assembly and a fellow member of staff comes out to all students. Students from the school’s LGBT community speak openly about their own coming-out stories. A fire has been ignited in the student body: they want more. An LGBT group is created, a safe space is found in the school and they start a new journey where they are at the forefront of the council’s plan on equality and diversity. It feels promising. It feels good.
I’ve been on a journey. I’ve been rejected for numerous leadership posts and I have questioned if my work in gay rights in schools has had something to do with it. Am I too progressive, even all these years after the repeal of Section 28? I’ll never know, but that is the legacy of Section 28 - the feeling of not being good enough for a society.
I’m getting married (although Covid-19 has delayed that) and I find myself in another part of Scotland, in another council and another school. Things aren’t as progressive as they might be but they are getting there. The council and the headteacher know change is needed and are embracing how to make it successful - it feels good.
I’m happy with what I’ve achieved and I know that teachers across the country who are authentically their gay selves or who are allies are supporting school groups and making huge differences to our young people and their futures. The TIE campaign succeeded in its aims in 2018, when the Scottish government announced that it had accepted its recommendations in full and would be embedding LGBT themes across the national curriculum by March 2021.
I feel good, but social media - for all its benefits - has reminded me of the journey still to travel. I have found, as have others who want inclusive education, that I have been branded a “pervert” and a “paedophile”, and have even had death threats.
For decades, the LGBT community has been subject to homophobic propaganda, which paints us as a threat to children. Until recently, we believed we had moved on from those dark days. Sadly, this is demonstrably not the case online.
LGBT groups are now common in schools across the country, staff are confident in approaching senior leadership teams about how they can do things better, and faith schools are looking at how they can embrace a more inclusive education.
Many difficult conversations have been had along the way. Debates and words that have echoed those from the Section 28 days are still often heard today. And the frustration has meant that at times we have felt like giving up - but our passion has driven us forward.
The legacy of Section 28 is buried deep: being gay was - officially and legally - something to be ashamed of. Today it isn’t, but it still isn’t easy. A recent TIE report found that 59 per cent of young people had witnessed an increase in prejudice-based posts, comments and/or attitudes online, whereas 48 per cent of LGBT young people had encountered transphobic comments online during lockdown.
As teachers, we have a duty of care to young people to educate them. No one stepped in to help me back then, and I feel a bit angry about that to this day. It’s amazing when you speak to young people about moments we have gone through and they can’t believe that things were so different not that long ago.
Yet words such as “agenda” and “promoting” are still heard from those who do not fully understand the notion of inclusive education. We have moved away from LGBT education being about sex education and it’s now about looking at those who have contributed greatly to our country and curriculum areas - it’s about normalising family structures and seeing ourselves, as the LGBT community, reflected in classrooms we teach and learn in.
Some school staff still feel reserved about approaching the topic because they fear a backlash. Some schools are still targeted for being inclusive and forward-thinking. Some students feel they can no longer put up with being bullied just because of who they are.
So what now? It’s vital that we make quality training mandatory for all staff in schools. This is the start of a truly inclusive classroom. School leaders need to have a whole-school approach - checking policies, looking at the curriculum, truly embedding it. They must ensure that staff understand the importance of this work, and that they harness teacher confidence in this area.
Teachers need to look at the materials they use and ensure that they are free from discrimination and bias, that they promote diversity. Pupil voice is a must: in schools where LGBT inclusion works best, students lead on community projects that engage parents and the wider community.
Remember, when we repealed Section 28, a massive vacuum was left - but we are slowly filling it. And a simple principle guides us: every young person deserves to learn in a safe and secure learning environment. This, don’t forget, is the responsibility of all of us who work in schools.
John Naples-Campbell is a secondary teacher and campaigner on LGBT issues, based in Scotland
This article originally appeared in the 21 August 2020 issue under the headline “Dear diary…our LGBT journey isn’t over just yet”
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