Not Going Shopping - Stop the Clause March 1988, Manchester

This audio documentary was created by Abigail Ward to mark the 30th anniversary of Manchester’s anti-Clause 28 march, 1988. Attended by 20,000 people, the protest was a seminal moment in UK LGBT+ history. The piece seeks to evoke the sounds and emotions experienced on that day through interviews with marchers, fragments of archive and music.

The title comes from the chant, “we’re here, we’re queer and we’re not going shopping”.

Section 28 formed part of the Local Government Act 1988 . It stated that:

A local authority shall not:

a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality
b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship

Contributors: Angela Cooper, David Hoyle, Kath McDermott, Louise Wallwein MBE, Luchia Fitzgerald, Paul Fairweather

SUPPORTED BY SUPERBIA AND MANCHESTER PRIDE. Special thanks to Greg Thorpe.