SECTION 28 INSIDE THE SCHOOL GATES ︎
SECTION 28 INSIDE THE SCHOOL GATES ︎
A TALK WITH SYEDA ALI
WITH
LGBT+ THAMESMEAD
26 FEB 2026 / 18:30
This talk starts promptly at 18:30
Everyone is welcome to attend this event.
However, we ask all attendees to rsvp via via ticket tailor.
The event has pay what you can policy.
Section 28 is often remembered as a time of fear and silence — when growing up or teaching in schools could feel hostile, constrained, or simply devoid of queer lives. For many LGBTQ+ people, it remains a powerful and painful memory of living under state-sanctioned homophobia.
For LGBTQ+ History Month, LGBT+ Thamesmead presents a talk by historian Syeda Ali.
Drawing on oral history interviews with teachers and former pupils, this talk looks at what everyday school life was actually like during the Section 28 years. It examines the harms the law caused, while also tracing how LGBTQ+ young people navigated growing up in a wider homophobic culture — often finding recognition, identity, and belonging beyond the school gates rather than within them.
The talk also explores how Section 28 has come to stand as a symbol for an entire era, and how its memory often merges with broader cultural attitudes that shaped schools long before and long after the law itself.
By bringing lived experience, memory, and history into conversation, the talk reflects on what remembering Section 28 can teach us today — about education, community, and the ongoing politics of 'protecting children'.
Central to her research are oral history interviews with teachers, whose voices help bring this period to life within its wider cultural and social context. A former teacher, Syeda began her teaching career locally in Thamesmead during the era of Section 28 and is delighted to be returning to speak about her research, as part of LGBTQ+ History Month.
LGBT+ Thamesmead is a community group that organises events, activities and peer-to-peer support networks for LGBTQIA+ people in Thamesmead, South East London and the surrounding area.
For LGBTQ+ History Month, LGBT+ Thamesmead presents a talk by historian Syeda Ali.
Drawing on oral history interviews with teachers and former pupils, this talk looks at what everyday school life was actually like during the Section 28 years. It examines the harms the law caused, while also tracing how LGBTQ+ young people navigated growing up in a wider homophobic culture — often finding recognition, identity, and belonging beyond the school gates rather than within them.
The talk also explores how Section 28 has come to stand as a symbol for an entire era, and how its memory often merges with broader cultural attitudes that shaped schools long before and long after the law itself.
By bringing lived experience, memory, and history into conversation, the talk reflects on what remembering Section 28 can teach us today — about education, community, and the ongoing politics of 'protecting children'.
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Syeda Ali recently completed her PhD in History at the University of Cambridge, where her research explored the impact of Section 28 on schools in England. Her work looks at how education policy was experienced in everyday school life during the 1980s and 1990s, with a particular focus on gender and sexuality. Central to her research are oral history interviews with teachers, whose voices help bring this period to life within its wider cultural and social context. A former teacher, Syeda began her teaching career locally in Thamesmead during the era of Section 28 and is delighted to be returning to speak about her research, as part of LGBTQ+ History Month.
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LGBT+ Thamesmead is a community group that organises events, activities and peer-to-peer support networks for LGBTQIA+ people in Thamesmead, South East London and the surrounding area.