The Legal Context for Social Work with Lesbians and Gay Men in the UK: Updating the Educational Context

Out and Proud? Social Work's Relationship with Lesbian and Gay Equality

“…This covers discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in three areas: sexual practices, employment and family life (Bagilhole, 2009, p. 113). This has been reviewed in detail by others (see Fish, 2007;Brown, 2008;Brown and Kershaw, 2008;Brown and Cocker, forthcoming). Examples include: † the 2000 Sexual Offences (Amendment ) Act, which reduced the age of consent for gay men to sixteen years (the same as heterosexual sex); † the 2002 Adoption and Children Act, which enabled lesbians and gay men in partnerships (not necessarily in civil partnerships) to jointly adopt, and for the partner of the birth parent of a child (or children) to apply to adopt as a stepparent; † the 2003 Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, which protected lesbians and gay men from direct or indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment in employment and training, covering all aspects of recruitment and employment, including pay and promotion; † the 2004 Civil Partnership Act, which provided lesbian and gay partners with the option of a civil ceremony, legally recognised and broadly equivalent to marriage, with benefits and rights in terms of inheritance tax, pensions, etc.…”

“…Dugmore and Cocker (2008) suggest that 'the legislative framework will only be as effective as the practitioners and managers responsible for its implementation ' (Dugmore and Cocker, 2008, p. 166). Brown and Kershaw (2008) comment that 'despite positive legislative changes, homophobic attitudes, prejudice and discrimination still exist. Legislation does not force people who think homosexuality is immoral and wrong to change their views, however it does require them to be more tolerant and treat people alike' (Brown and Kershaw, 2008, p. 129), whilst Brown and Cocker (2008) are broadly optimistic about the effect of this recent protective legislation: ' .…”

“…Parental responsibility was only granted to a non-biological parent via a residence order (1989 Children Act, section 8); this ceased to have effect from when a child turned sixteen (now eighteen). The 2002 Adoption and Children Act (section 144) finally put a legal end to this notion of the 'pretend' family (Brown and Kershaw, 2008), and has led to considerable changes in the way in which public sector services, such as adoption and fostering services, approach their work. Fostering and adoption assessment is the most common reason for contact between the state and lesbians and gay men in the arena of child welfare (Brown, 2008).…”

A Glimpse of the Truth: Evaluating ‘Debate’ and ‘Role Play’ as Pedagogical Tools for Learning about Sexuality Issues on a Law and Ethics Module

“…Human rights and anti-discriminatory legislation towards lesbian and gay citizens have recently been extended. Despite statutory provisions, little evidence remains of the proactive development of anti-heterosexist practice in social work education in favour of a more generalist approach (Brown and Kershaw, 2008). Changing attitudes in social, personal, cultural and political spheres which challenge entrenched ideas and institutional practice is complex.…”