Blog: Student Newspapers, Section 28, and LGBTQ+ Life at Exeter
In 2024, in collaboration with the Section 28 and Its Afterlives project, Special Collections was pleased to welcome Chloë Edwards on an internship to explore student publications in the University Archive to find out what they can tell us about LGBTQ+ lives and the impact of Section 28 at the University. You can read the blog post here.
Section 28 and its afterlives in the South West (EUL MS 354)
This collection of oral history interviews focuses on Section 28, a piece of homophobic legislation in force in England and Wales between 1988 and 2003. Section 28 sought to prohibit the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by local authorities, including in school settings; it denied a whole generation of LGBTQ+ people information, representation, and support. To mark the 20th anniversary of the repeal of Section 28, the Section 28 and its afterlives project team conducted oral history interviews with LGBTQ+ people in the South West about their experiences of Section 28 and its long-lasting legacies on their lives. The interviewees reflected on a variety of experiences of Section 28: some had been in school while it was in force; some were out of school, at university, or working, including in education, by the time it came into force; a few were actively involved in activism and organising against Section 28. Interviewees were also invited to reflect on legacies and on contemporary parallels. As well as putting on the historical record the voices of those people Section 28 tried to silence, the interviews were conducted by younger LGBTQ+ people, creating an opportunity for intergenerational LGBTQ+ sharing at a time when hard-won LGBTQ+ rights appear once again to be under threat.z
A collection description for the Section 28 and its afterlives in the South West collection can be browsed on the online archives catalogue. Further cataloguing of the collection is currently underway.
Find out more about the project, including clips from the interviews, on the Section 28 and its Afterlives website.
Literary papers of David Rees (EUL MS 271)
David Rees (1936-1993) was an author, lecturer and reviewer, born in Surbiton. He publicly self-identified as gay in 1974. Rees worked as a school teacher, before moving to Exeter in 1968 to take up the position of lecturer in Education at St Luke's College, which merged with the University of Exeter in 1978. He remained at the University until 1984, when he retired early to write full-time.
The novels Quintin's Man (1976) and In the Tent (1979) were the first books for teenagers in the UK to have central gay characters. In the 1980s, The Milkman's On His Way (1982) by David Rees was one of the prominent texts discussed as part of the Section 28 debates in Parliament. The novel centres around a teenager called Ewan Macrae, and his exploration of who he is and what it means to experience same-sex attraction. It follows his changing relationships and wider journey to adulthood, self-acceptance and happiness. In Parliament, it was claimed that the book ‘glorifies homosexuality and encourages youngsters to believe that it is better than any other sexual way of life’ (Jill Knight MP, House of Commons, 08 May 1987), and that it ‘does a great deal to undermine family life and moral standards’ (Richard Luce MP, House of Commons, 11 May 1987). Despite the withdrawal of The Milkman’s on His Way from many public and school libraries due to Section 28, according to David Rees’ autobiography (Not For Your Hands, 1992), sales of the book - which had been good in 1982 - experienced a significant boost through the publicity in 1987 and 1988.
The archive collection at the University of Exeter comprises literary papers of David Rees dating between c 1975-1993. They include manuscript and typescript drafts of novels, short stories, poems, reviews, articles and interviews; printed copies of articles and reviews; as well as correspondence and reviews relating to his works. The literary papers of David Rees have been catalogued and can be browsed via the online archives catalogue.
Further Resources
Books by David Rees are held within our Reserve Collection, catalogued under the classmark Reserve 828.9/REE-9. You can browse the titles in the library catalogue.
University of Exeter LibGuide is licensed under CC BY 4.0
