Name: Outrageous! The Story of Section 28: Britain's Homophobic Law
Brand: Paul Baker

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

9781789145618

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Colour

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format Books GB

Paperback

Format detail

Limited edition

Release date

2022-02-01

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Yale

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

1 / Extended format: No / Paperback / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Hardback

1 / Extended format: No / Hardback / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Paul Baker

Genre GB

Theory

Label GB

Reaktion Books

On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O’Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting – ‘Stop Section 28!’ – and a scuffle. The papers would announce: ‘Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian’. 

The next day Section 28 passed into law, forbidding local authorities from the teaching ‘of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. It would send shockwaves through British society: silencing gay pupils and teachers, while galvanizing mass protests and the formation of the LGBTQ+ rights groups OutRage! and Stonewall. 

Outrageous! tells its story: the background to the Act, how the press fanned the flames and what politicians said during debates, how protestors fought back to bring about the repeal of the law in the 2000s, and its eventual legacy. Based on detailed research, interviews with key figures – including Ian McKellen, Michael Cashman and Angela Mason – and personal recollection, Outrageous! is an impassioned, warm, often moving account of unthinkable prejudice enshrined within law, and of the power of community to overcome it. 

Outrageous! The Story of Section 28: Britain's Homophobic Law

Books GB