To honor the 21st anniversary of the repeal of Section 28, IAP, an arts and heritage organisation based in the Northwest, is launching PROTEST! – Documenting Dissent, a large-scale LGBTQ+ research and engagement project that amplifies voices from one of Britain’s most significant queer rights movements. This two-year project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, aims to capture, archive, and celebrate the stories of those affected by the infamous Section 28 legislation and its enduring legacy.
Enacted in 1988 under Margaret Thatcher's government, Section 28 of the Local Government Act prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality," silencing LGBTQ+ voices in schools and public life. This controversial legislation sparked Britain’s largest LGBTQ+ demonstration, with over 20,000 protestors gathering in Manchester in a powerful show of resistance. PROTEST! takes inspiration from this moment in history, seeking to document the resilience of LGBTQ+ individuals who lived through and opposed the law’s impact.
Capturing Voices from the Past and Present
Through PROTEST!, IAP is reaching out to individuals who directly experienced Section 28’s effects—teachers, activists, and community organisers—inviting them to share their stories. These accounts, ranging from acts of protest to personal struggles, will form a rich archive housed in Manchester’s public spaces, preserving the memory and lessons of Section 28 for future generations.
The project will also recruit volunteers to conduct interviews with LGBTQ+ individuals from the Northwest who have stories of activism, resistance, or hardship linked to this period. By capturing these voices, PROTEST! ensures that the fight against discrimination remains a vivid and accessible part of LGBTQ+ history.
A Multi-Faceted Approach to Historical Preservation
In collaboration with Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Libraries and Archives, and local council archives, PROTEST! will offer a range of events, exhibitions, and activities over its two-year duration. Planned highlights include new art commissions, public events, the creation of a new film, and a major exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. These efforts will not only document but also invite ongoing community participation, with paid internship opportunities and curatorial contributions.
With PROTEST!, IAP is not only celebrating the repeal of Section 28 but also committing to the preservation of queer history as an ongoing, living archive.
Jez Dolan, Artistic Director of IAP:MCR comments: “We are passionate as artists to reveal and explore the untold histories of LGBTQ+ people and the ways in which protest and dissent have shaped our lives and promoted our human rights. Section 28 was an appalling and hugely misjudged piece of legislation, and one which had the unexpected outcome of bringing our communities together in protest, in unity and in collective action for the first time. We know as a community we have so much to say about this and so PROTEST! will be our largest project to date in terms of scale and ambition – and we cannot wait to launch this next month.”
To find out more about how to get involved in PROTEST! as an interviewee or as a volunteer interviewer, please contact Rosheen O’Hanlon at volunteer@iapmcr.co.uk
PROTEST! is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, IAP will be able to collect and collate new oral history testimony, and explore archives, delivering a series of public events that will illuminate LGBTQ+ history in the Northwest.
