Gscene comment

I am in my late 50s. Over the years I have witnessed all the legislative changes affecting LGB&T people that has brought us to the present debate over ‘Equal Marriage’.

Often while we made the advances I thought we never took seriously the ‘heart and minds’ argument necessary to make the public at large buy into and embrace the hard won changes.

Today, the Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband MP visited Blatchington Mill School in Hove and took questions on LGBT issues from the young people.

It was a revelation!

The students asked great questions, were not afraid to tackle any LGBT issue and most importantly showed a deep understanding of being respectful and understanding to everyone who is different.

Blatchington Mill School in Hove is at the vanguard of equalities work, dealing with homophobic bullying and all LGBT issues affecting young children in school. Whatever they do with these young children at Blatchington Mill should be rolled out in every school in the country.

I never fully understood how serious the full ramifications of Section 28 were until today.

Section 28 resulted in teachers being afraid to talk about LGBT issues in school, making young people feel that there was something wrong with being LGB&T.

All I can say is on the evidence of what I saw and heard today, ‘We’re safe in their hands’ and I will sleep much better tonight knowing that.

I will also never forgive the architects of Section 28 who made a generation of young people in schools throughout the country feel isolated and unloved through their formative years.