Section 28 2.0: The New School Guidance

Overview

Section 28 (section 2A of the Local Government Act 1986, inserted by the Local Government Act 1988) was repealed in 2003, ending eighteen years of statutory prohibition on the 'promotion of homosexuality' by local authorities and maintained schools. For two decades the schools question seemed settled: relationships and sex education became mandatory in 2017, and from 2020 all secondary schools in England were required to teach LGBTQ+-inclusive relationships. The '2.0' echo opened in December 2023, when the Department for Education published draft non-statutory guidance on gender-questioning children for consultation, advising a cautious, parent-first approach to requests for social transition. The climate hardened in the spring of 2024: the Tavistock GIDS service closed on 31 March 2024, and Dr Hilary Cass's independent review of NHS gender identity services for children published its final report on 10 April 2024, finding the evidence base for treating gender-questioning children remarkably weak. In February 2026 the DfE proposed folding the gender-questioning-children guidance into the statutory Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) framework. The parallel with Section 28 is not exact — Section 28 was statute; the 2023 guidance was non-statutory draft, now moving toward statutory safeguarding force — but the through-line is state direction of how schools may acknowledge LGBTQ+ identity. Where Section 28 silenced mention of homosexuality, 'Section 28 2.0' conditions the recognition of trans identity on parental consent and external clinical gatekeeping.

What the original Section 28 said

Section 28 prevented local authorities from intentionally promoting homosexuality, publishing material with that intention, or promoting teaching in maintained schools that presented homosexuality as an acceptable family relationship. It applied in England, Wales and Scotland; Scotland repealed it in 2000, England and Wales in 2003. (See the Section 28 topic for the full history.)

How '2.0' emerged

Mandatory RSE in 2017 and LGBTQ+-inclusive relationships education from 2020 represented the high-water mark of affirmative schools policy. In December 2023 the DfE published draft guidance on gender-questioning children for consultation, advising a cautious, parent-first approach to social transition. The Tavistock GIDS closure on 31 March 2024 and the Cass Review's final report on 10 April 2024 consolidated the re-orientation. In February 2026 the DfE proposed folding the guidance into statutory KCSIE — the mechanism shifting from non-statutory advice toward statutory safeguarding.

Why the parallel matters

Both moments turn on the same lever: the state telling schools what they may say about LGBTQ+ identity, and on whose say-so a pupil's identity may be acknowledged. Section 28 did it by prohibition; the 2023 draft guidance does it by conditioning social transition on parental and specialist approval. The mechanism differs; the locus of authority — the state, not the school or the pupil — rhymes.