All the recent negative publicity about the dubious integrity of our politicians has really got me thinking, as I guess it has everybody else, about our political system and the type of people it attracts, as well as the type of behaviour it appears to encourage in our elected members.

And I’ve had a lot of time to think, having been a little ill and contemplating yet another knee operation (in a weeks time after Education 2020). I think we tend to tar all politicians with the same brush, but they’re not all like that. Some try to do good, act in the best interests of the country and put personal gain or advantage to the back whilst they tackle often thankless tasks. Wendy Alexander was in such a position ten years ago when she was tasked with the job of removing from the statute books a nasty little piece of legislation known as Clause 2a. Many will remember this as the ‘law’ which prevented the ‘teaching’ of homosexuality in schools pushed through by the Thatcher government, and many more will remember the disgraceful comments by so many at the time, including Archbishop Winning and his sidekick,  Bishop Joseph Devine as well as the attempt to buy public opinion by stagecoach magnate Brian Souter.

Of course, the problem with Clause 2a was not only it’s intent, but also that it was an extremely badly-written piece of legislation which was so misunderstood that it made most teachers frightened to address all issues surrounding sexuality in their classrooms. Many young people were stigmatised and cut adrift from any type of support mechanism, and teenage suicides amongst LGBT youngsters were ten times higher than amongst their straight counterparts. ‘Keep the Clause’ became a playground taunt in many schools resulting in an upsurge of homophobic bullying (thank you Brian, Thomas, Joseph et al. for that) when all this could have been avoided with a little examination of just what exactly the legislation said. This was that Local authorities should not promote the acceptability of homosexuality as a ‘pretended family relationship’. Very confusing, but really, there was no problem with this. All we had to do was talk about actual family relationships. My own situation was  certainly not a pretended family for me and my partner, my children, and the many single-sex family units across the country. So all we had to do in classroom discussions was to talk about same sex partnerships as actual family relationships that are just as valid as any church or state-sanctioned marriage. So where’s the problem? In schools unfortunately, where many of the prejudices in today’s society are learned and encouraged. While we rightly clamp down on racist bullying, where are the initiatives to deal with homophobia in the playground and, for that matter, in the staffroom? I have lost count of the times I have heard slang words for gays and lesbians being used as insults and I am fed up with having my relationships reduced to the status of break time cat-calling. The recent LTS toolkit put together to help schools reduce homophobia is a start, but how many schools have just filed it away, I wonder, rather than fulfil their statutory duty in this respect ?

Now Wendy Alexander steered the repeal of this legislation through the teeth of a force ten storm whipped up by the catholic church leaders, some of the more rabid mouth-foaming free churches, and assorted fools like Souter and his acolytes whose campaign to keep prejudice and bigotry enshrined in law was  the moral equivalent of the business-funded campaign to maintain racial segregation in the Deep South of the USA in the 1950s and 60’s. She had nothing to gain personally or politically. She was just doing what was right. Time has proved her actions correc. Who can forget that episode of question time when Boy George took Brian Souter to pieces over his campaign. Even Cardinal Winning recanted before his death (after his disgraceful comments about LGBT folk not being fit and proper persons to be teachers) but Bishop Devine is still preaching homophobia from the pulpit in Scotland.

Wendy Alexander’s actions and conduct ten years ago are an example, I think, ( as we approach the ninth anniversary of the final repeal of Clause 2a)  to many of today’s politicians (particularly the SNP whose fence-sitting on this issue was very suspect indeed) who would do well to look upon Wendy Alexander’s conduct all those years ago as an object lesson in how to act with integrity for the greater good of society.

As I look back over the years and remember the small part I played in the campaign to repeal clause 2a, I ask myself, are we any further forward ? the recent arguments in the Church of Scotland, and the conduct of the Archbishop of Canterbury over Gene Robinson’s visit last year do give me cause for concern. But overall, I think there has been much progression in the last ten years. I see more and more young people in schools coming out and being upfront and confident  about their own sexuality and much more acceptance by their peers. What they need now are more of their teachers to not be afraid to do the same and act as positive role models for LGBT young people in their schools.