Section 28 of the 1986 Local Government Act states that local authorities  "shall not promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." The Government is pushing legislation through Parliament to repeal it, but is encountering opposition from both sides of the House and in the Lords.

Many members of the Gay community find this legislation not only discriminatory, but also deeply offensive. It goes against not only what they see as an ongoing change in attitudes towards greater tolerance of non-traditional lifestyles, but is also in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty, both of which provide for equal treatment of all citizens regardless of sexuality.