Tory says Section 28 opponents wanted schools to teach ‘the behaviour that caused Aids’
Baroness Nicholson. (UK Parliament, cropped. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Conservative peer Baroness Nicholson has claimed those who opposed Section 28, the legislation which banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by local authorities in England and Wales, wanted schools to “teach the very behaviour that was the only known cause of Aids”.
The unelected member of the House of Lords made the statement on X/Twitter, following a chain of posts criticising her for attending the LGB Alliance conference in central London on Friday (11 October).
LGB Alliance is a trans-exclusionary charity that has been accused of solely campaigning against trans rights rather than supporting lesbian, gay and bisexual people, and an offshoot of which in Ireland was labelled as a “far-right hate and extremist group” in 2022. Nicolson has called the founders “principled, kindly and wonderful”.
Formerly the MP for Torridge and West Devon, Nicholson has a history of anti-trans rhetoric and is an outspoken critic of LGBTQ+ rights, including voting in favour of introducing Section 28 in 1987 and against it being repealed in 2000.
She also voted against the equalisation of the age of consent, and same-sex marriage, has claimed that it is “very dangerous” to explain pronouns to children, described lesbian families as “neither normal nor natural” and been the subject of hundreds of complaints for sharing abuse about model Munroe Bergdorf.
In response to one X user, who rejected her claim to have been “an ally”, the peer wrote: “I am seriously thinking of you and those like you as wishful of Aids unchecked. I voted for S.28 when there was no immunisation nor cure. But you and yours wished schools to teach the very behaviour that was the only known cause of Aids. I, as VP of charity Crusaid, did not.”
Section 28 was legislation that barred schools and local councils from ‘promoting’ homosexuality from 1988-2003.
The comment quickly faced a backlash, with people labelling it homophobic and deeply misinformed about HIV and Aids by suggesting that sexual activity between men was the only way the virus could be transmitted
Research has recently shown that three per cent of Brits believe they cannot contract the virus because they are straight, which flies in the face of the increase in new HIV transmissions among heterosexuals in Scotland.
Matthew Hodson, who stepped down as the executive director of Aidsmap in June, wrote in response: “Homophobic laws are not effective HIV prevention. Section 28 created an environment which made it harder to share life-saving sexual-health information, not just in schools but libraries and helplines too. We see how such barriers still play out today.”
Duncan Craig, the founder of We Are Survivors, who was named in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for his services to male victims of sexual violence and child abuse, said: “What is she on about? The only known transmission of HIV was gay men? She voted for S28 to stop the spread of HIV? So, what about the sharing needles or other transmission routes? How did her S28 vote stop that? Can someone ask Joanne to come pick her mate up, she’s p***ed!”
A message on the official account for GlitterBeam Radio read: “Suggesting that a law like section 28 was voted to stop the Aids spreading it’s deeply concerning.”
And one X user wrote: “Section 28 didn’t stop Aids. There is no rational that could pretend it could [sic].”
Nicholson first became a Tory MP in 1987 before transferring her allegiance to the Lib Dems in 1995 and went on to become an MEP. In 2017, she announced her return to the Conservative Party. She’s been a life peer since 1997.
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