Ageing Out: Being 'Too Old' in a Community Built on Not Fitting In
A note before you read: this piece touches on suicide, homophobia, slurs, the AIDS crisis, death, and the laws that criminalised us. Take care of yourself, and skip this text if you need to.
I'm 38 and apparently an elder Queer. On gatekeeping, generational trauma, and why the Queer community keeps mistaking each other for enemies.
Section 28 Didn't End in 2003: It Followed Me Into Adulthood
The Section 28 Justice Coalition is a volunteer-led campaign group whose central aim is a public inquiry into the impact of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988. This law from 1988 to 2003 barred local authorities and schools from "promoting" homosexuality, leaving a generation of LGBTQIA+ people without support, information, or safety.
As part of this work, the Coalition runs the Dear Section 28 project, which is collecting an archive of personal testimony from people affected by the law. Here is my letter.