- Conference
- 2006 National LGBT Conference
- Date
- 27 July 2006
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
In 2003 Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was repealed. The Act 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”.
Although national legislation has changed in accordance with the repeal many local authority departments still have it mentioned in their policies as a current piece of legislation. The Buckinghamshire Branch LGBT Group has been made aware of at least one department in Buckinghamshire that still has Section 28 written into policy as a current piece of legislation, even though it is common practice in Bucks to review policy annually.
Conference believes that this may not be an isolated case and that local authorities nationwide may still have not recognised the repeal in policy.
Conference believes that this underlines the importance of:
1. checking through policies and procedures to ensure they are up to date;
2.reminding local authorities of their responsibilities under current and developing equality legislation;
3.raising awareness of opportunities for local activists to get involved in equalities work at the local level;
4.encouraging local authorities to adopt the Equality Standard for Local Government and implement Equality Impact Assessments that are inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Conference calls on the National Committee to raise awareness of these issues as part of its work programme and to raise them with the Local Government Service Group Executive.