Topic 4, Lesson 13: Why was there a 'moral panic' about the LGBT community?

Topic 4, Lesson 13: Why was there a 'moral panic' about the LGBT community?

The Emergence of AIDS

• the first case of AIDS in the UK was recorded in 1981

• gay men seemed to be particularly at risk

• AIDS was commonly referred to as the “gay plague”

The Role of Diana, Princess of Wales

• in 1987, Diana challenged popular prejudices about AIDS by shaking hands with an AIDS patient

• hugely significant move in de-stigmatising AIDS patients

Topic 4, Lesson 13: Why was there a 'moral panic' about the LGBT community?

Section 28 Legislation

Causes:

• a tabloid outcry in 1986 over a book, Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, led to the passing of Section 28

• the book included homosexual propaganda and was written with a view to help reduce anti-gay prejudice.

• this book was stocked in some London school libraries

Section 28:

• Section 28 was passed in response to this book

• Section 28 banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities

• passed in 1988

Consequences:

• new campaign groups were set up in response to Section 28

including Stonewall (campaign group)

• Gay pride rallies saw an increase in the numbers attending

Topic 4, Lesson 13: Why was there a 'moral panic' about the LGBT community?

LGBT Rights Legislation

The emergence and increasing membership of campaign groups such as Outrage! and Stonewall led to the passage of pro-LGBT Rights such as:

1994 - Reduction in the age of consent for gay men from 21 to 18 years old

2000 - Equality was reached when the age of consent was lowered to 16

2000 - Lifting of the ban on homosexuals in the military was passed

Topic 4, Lesson 13: Why was there a 'moral panic' about the LGBT community?

Tory Moral Panic

The 1980s saw a series of moral panics:

• Loney left / Anti Trade Unionist

• backlash against the Permissive Society

• traditional 1950s family values / Christian values / Victorian values

• Anti LGBT (“Gay Plague / Section 28)

• Thatcher is anti-feminist (a woman not a sister)

• Demonise “benefit scroungers” - Peter Lilley

• Rising Islamophobia

Family campaigners feared for the future of marriage as the divorce rate hit record highs in the 1990s.

The percentage of babies born to unmarried parents more than doubled from 12% in the early 1980s to 30% by the early 1990s.

Single mothers and absent fathers were particularly demonised by the tabloid press for being '“benefit scroungers”.

In 1992, Peter Lilley (the Secretary of State for Social Security) sang a song (“I have a little list”) at the Conservative Party Conference:

“There’s young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue. And dads who don’t support the kids of the ladies they have kissed”