On this day, 20 February 1988, 20,000 people in Manchester marched against Margaret Thatcher’s homophobic section 28 law, which made it illegal for public bodies to “promote” homosexuality, which included banning schools teaching the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. The law was abolished in 2003, although later Conservative Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May both voted against the complete scrapping of the ban.
For more info about the lives of LGBT+ in the UK at the time, check out our podcast about Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, especially as it’s LGBT history month: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/06/10/e23-25-lesbians-gays-support-the-miners/https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1354501448068335/?type=3
Don’t pirate books, for example, because while it does hurt the publisher, it hurts the author more, since they’re only paid by their direct sales numbers. Get the book from a library instead, since that drives a sale, supports a public service, and is free to you. (The exception being textbooks. The authors have usually already been paid all they’re ever going to get, if they got paid at all, and the publisher rakes in an obscene profit.)
Don’t pirate indie stuff, whether it’s movies, books, music, art, video games, whatever. If it’s indie, you are directly hurting a creative who just wanted to put something nice into the world, and not being able to eat directly impacts their ability to make more nice things. Caution: certain industries like video games and music are very volatile, and companies that used to be indie might not be anymore but might still be cruising on that indie cred. Similarly, a well-known and well-loved studio you’ve been a fan of for years might seem huge to you but is actually still just a couple schmucks barely scraping by. Look into a company, see how big it is, and if it’s a subsidiary of something larger. If it’s just a few people, don’t steal, but if it’s actually a multi-million dollar company with several dozen employees, yeah, it’s probably fine.
Do pirate from the giant names: Disney, EA, Activision, Warner, Sony, major tv networks, etc. It’s almost guaranteed that the people who actually worked on the project were paid terribly, have gotten all they’re going to get from it, and the company is bringing in so many billions of dollars with each project that you won’t make a dent.
THIS
And don’t pirate sex workers content! That includes stolen tube site content
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
