SNP takes Scottish Parliament

What are the Tory views on homosexualism?

They introduced Section 28:

From Wikipedia

Section 28 was a controversial amendment to the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1986, enacted by the Local Government Act 1988 on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 18 November 2003. The amendment stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship".[1]

Some people believed that Section 28 prohibited local councils from distributing any material, whether plays, leaflets, books, etc, that portrayed gay relationships as anything other than abnormal. Teachers and educational staff in some cases were afraid of discussing gay issues with students for fear of losing state funding (see Controversy over applicability for more information).

No successful prosecution was ever brought under this provision, but its existence caused many groups to close or limit their activities or self-censor. For example, a number of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual student support groups in schools and colleges across Britain were closed due to fears by council legal staff that they could breach the Act.[2]

While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received Royal Assent, it had become Section 28. Section 28 is sometimes referred to as Clause 28 — in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament have sections, whereas in a Bill (which is put before Parliament to pass) those sections are called clauses.[3] Since the effect of the amendment was to insert a new section '2A' into the previous Local Government Act, it was also sometimes referred to as Section 2A.[4]

Repeal:

On 7 February 2000, the first attempted legislation to repeal Section 28 was introduced by the Labour Government, but was defeated by a House of Lords campaign led by Baroness Young.

In the newly devolved Scottish Parliament the repeal process was more successful. Various groups attempted to discredit the legislation. Millionaire and evangelical Christian Brian Souter ran his own, privately funded poll as part of his Keep the Clause campaign. This poll appeared to show an overwhelming support for the clause - 86.8% in favour - although critics noted the poll was largely non-representative[14][15] However, Section 28 (although, more accurately, it was Section 2A of the relevant Scottish legislation) was successfully repealed as part of the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 on 21 June 2000 with a 99 to 17 majority vote with only two abstentions.

On 24 July 2000 legislation to repeal Section 28 was once again re-introduced and passed the Commons in a free vote. In the intervening period between the last attempt to repeal Section 28 the Labour Government had drastically reformed the House of Lords, with the passage into law of the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the vast majority of hereditary peers from the Upper House. Concessions were also made in the form of the new Learning and Skills Act 2000 which emphasised family values and which was hoped would win over opponents. However the repeal once again stalled in the House of Lords.

Despite successive defeats in the House of Lords of attempts to repeal Section 28 in England and Wales, the Labour government passed legislation to repeal this section as part of the Local Government Act 2003. This passed the Lords and received Royal Assent on the 18 September 2003 and the repeal became effective on the 18 November 2003.

The Conservative-run Kent County Council however decided to create their own version of Section 28 to keep the effect of the now repealed law in their schools.[16] This was replaced with provisions stating that heterosexual marriage and family relationships are the only firm foundations for society on 16 December 2004.[17]

The Conservatives also voted against loweing the age of legal consenet first to 18 then to 16 for years :angry: Labour changed this.