| Description | This collection of oral history interviews focuses on Section 28, a piece of homophobic legislation in force in England and Wales between 1988 and 2003. Section 28 sought to prohibit the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by local authorities, including in school settings; it denied a whole generation of LGBTQ+ people information, representation, and support. To mark the 20th anniversary of the repeal of Section 28, the Section 28 and its afterlives project team conducted oral history interviews with LGBTQ+ people in the South West about their experiences of Section 28 and its long-lasting legacies on their lives. The interviewees reflected on a variety of experiences of Section 28: some had been in school while it was in force; some were out of school, at university, or working, including in education, by the time it came into force; a few were actively involved in activism and organising against Section 28. Interviewees were also invited to reflect on legacies and on contemporary parallels. As well as putting on the historical record the voices of those people Section 28 tried to silence, the interviews were conducted by younger LGBTQ+ people, creating an opportunity for intergenerational LGBTQ+ sharing at a time when hard-won LGBTQ+ rights appear once again to be under threat. This collection comprises both audio recordings and professsional transcripts of interviews. |
| AdminHistory | These interviews were conducted by the Section 28 and its afterlives project team in two phases between June 2023 and August 2024. In the first phase (summer 2023), 12 interviews were conducted using MS Teams by two students at the university: Amy Rushton and Lisette Reed. In the second phase (summer 2024), 15 interviews were conducted by a team of student volunteers from the university, each conducting a small number of interviews each: Amy Rushton, Lisette Reed, Macy Webber, Jessica Leung, Lola Williams, Ella Day, Emma Grieve, Elio Smith Y Diaz-Andreu, and Hannah Pilkington. These interviews were mostly conducted in person at the Intercom Trust in Exeter and Truro, or on Streatham campus; one was conducted online via MS Teams. The project team was co-led by Dr Helen Birkett, Dr Chris Sandal-Wilson, and Dr Hannah Young, all members of academic staff in the department of Archaeology and History at the time. The first phase was funded by internal Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences funding; the second phase was funded through a National Lottery Heritage award. The collection is being deposited directly by the project team and there are no plans to archive copies elsewhere at present. The project team acknowledge with gratitude the support of the University of Exeter Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, the AHRC, and the Heritage Lottery Fund. |