Inclusion, exclusion, exclusive? Sexual citizenship and the repeal of Section 28/2a

This short piece has been inspired by the recent articles by Mohamin Rahman (‘The Shape of Equality: Discursive Deployments During the Section 28 Repeal in Scotland’, 2004) and Joseph Burridge (‘“I am not Homphobic But . . .” Disclaiming in Discourse Resisting Repeal of Section 28’, 2004) appearing in Sexualities, both of which focused on responses to and representations of the debates surrounding the repeal of Section 28/2a. Using print media, records of parliamentary debates and committee hearings both Rahman and Burridge identify exemplarily discourses circulating at the time, conveyed in talk of ‘tolerance’, innocence and contamination: the tolerant versus the tolerated, the innocent versus the perverse, the moral majority versus the campaigning crusaders, fighting for their ‘special rights’.