Social Issues 1987-1998

Question 1

What did Thatcher do with Homosexuality and AIDS?

Answer 1

• the social conservatism of Thatcherism: exemplified in attitudes to homosexuality
• Negative attitudes grew during the 1980s, reaching a peak in 1987.
• partly cuz of AIDS: first case in UK recorded 1981
• referred to as a ‘gay plague’.
• The government started a prevention campaign in 1985
• needle exchanges were set up and leaflets were distributed to all households and schools.
• Billboards and TV and radio advertisements advised people ‘don’t die of ignorance’.

Question 2

What did Princess Diana do?

Answer 2

• 1987, Diana, Princess of Wales, challenged popular prejudices about AIDs by shaking hands with a patient with AIDS at the Royal Middlesex Hospital - significant

Question 3

Why was Section 8 passed?

Answer 3

• fear of AIDS stirred up greater prejudice about gay people
• ‘Loony Left’ councils were accused of ‘promoting’ homosexual lifestyles by funding support groups.
• tabloid outcry in 1986 over book, Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin: stocked in some London school libraries.

Question 4

What was section 28?

Answer 4

• Section 28 was passed in 1988
• banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities.
• not directly aimed at schools, many people believed that it made illegal to discuss homosexuality in schools.

Question 5

Challenge to section 28: what was outrage?

Answer 5

• Outrage!
• Used direct action, threatening to ‘out’ gay clergy and MPs.
• Stonewall backed test legal cases at the European Court of Human Rights, challenging the unequal age of consent and the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces.
• This led to a reduction in the age of consent for gay men from 21 to 18 in 1994.
• However, equality wasn’t reached until 2000 when the age was lowered to 16

Question 6

Describe the moral panic?