![]() ![]() We were held in an office until we were arrested and taken to Shepherd’s Bush police station. Sue Lawley reacts to the studio invasion. I was rugby-tackled to the ground and dragged away. He has since apologised for his heavy-handed behaviour. One woman handcuffed herself to a camera, and one to the news desk, where Nicholas Witchell held her down very aggressively. Once in the BBC building, we waited until the “live” light came on and ran into the studio wearing T-shirts saying “Stop the Clause”. By getting on the news, we would be the news. So a small group of us decided to go into the Six O’Clock News studio. Lots of women came up with loads of very innovative protests, but none of it got reported. They chained themselves to the railings at Buckingham Palace like the suffragettes did, and there were massive marches in Manchester and in London. Many women and mothers felt duty-bound to protect themselves, their families and their friends. I was engaged with a lesbian feminist network, but the campaign against section 28 was not an organised campaign in the traditional sense. There was an atmosphere that “the other” needed to be eradicated and I think the LGBT community was seen as a threat to the institution of the family. I, and many of my loved ones, had been attacked in the street. There were also lots of questions about section 28’s possible impact on gay bars and clubs, as well as concerns about the attitude of the police force.īooan Temple (left) with Cathy Newman and Sally Francis at the Attitude Pride awards in 2017. There was a sense that the whole community was under threat. When we stopped the music, there was some grumbling from people, but once they had heard us speak most were positive. We went to the gay bars and clubs – such as New Union, Rembrandt, the Thompsons Arms and Napoleon – where the owners agreed to stop the music so that we could speak about the march and section 28. The gay scene was quite small and I knew the owners of the local venues well. No one in the group had organised such a large event before, but a core group had been very active in the gay movement since the early 1970s. What we were doing was completely illegal. We were in a local government office, organising a demonstration against the government to try to stop legislation being presented. We had a secret office in the town hall attic where more than 100 people would meet every week. I had also helped to set up the North West Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Equality, the group responsible for orchestrating the Manchester demonstration. Paul Fairweather … ‘There was a sense that the whole community was under threat.’ Photograph: Joel GoodmanĪt the time that section 28 was being discussed in parliament, I was one of Manchester city council’s gay men’s officers, working on issues such as employment, service delivery and developing community groups. ![]()
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