Folk Legends of the World, Untie!
Current Music: NASA -- Mars Scientific Laboratory landing 
I'm currently bingeing on The Smiths because wildilocks. On Saturday I made a somewhat off-colour quip to the effect that Morrissey seemed to have been calling for a gay uprising in "Shirtlifters of the World Unite". Then, in the spirit of wasting several hours in pursuit of trivia, I plunged my head into the primordial internet abyss, the Googleungagap, and sure enough, despite the songwriter having said in interviews the year it was released that he was contrasting society's view of shoplifters and nuclear weapon-makers and that "shoplifting" referred to the re-use of cultural wealth, the internet has convinced itself that the song really is pro-gay, anti-Tory agitprop.
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was the Thatcher government's knee-jerk response to mid-'80s gay panic. It aimed to prevent local authorities (including state schools) from "promoting homosexuality". Its passage "served to galvanise the disparate British gay rights movement into action", says wikipedia; Boy George and Chumbawamba released songs attacking the legislation. So, there's some appeal to the notion that this song (which wikipedia claims, citelessly, is Morrissey's favourite Smiths track) might have been the band's contribution to that effort. But "Shoplifters of the World Unite" (don't you just want to punctuate that?) was released as a non-album single in January 1987, and wikipedia claims it was recorded in (Northern) Autumn, 1986. We can safely say that the song was written in late 1986; it's clearly not a response to "Clause 28".
Clause 28 wasn't introduced until December 1987. However the internet, refusing to abandon its theory, points out that it was preceded by a private member's bill introduced by John Gifford (irrelevantly a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien's who'd read The Silmarillion in 1957), supposedly titled "An act to refrain local authorities from promoting homosexuality". (Giffard, "the noble Earl, Lord Halsbury" - Hansard's use of this formula throughout must surely be less stenographic than aspirational - had no real problem with most of those people, you understand, but felt there was a certain class of homosexual, characterised by "exhibitionism; [...] promiscuity; [...] proselytising; [...] boasting of homosexual achievements [...and acting] as reservoirs of venereal diseases" who really did need to be acted upon. Urgently and firmly.) The net notes that this bill passed the Lords some time in 1986 but, although it was introduced to the Commons on 8 May, 1987, it was ultimately derailed by the announcement of the general election a few days later, and never re-introduced. So, is it possible "Shoplifters" is a response to this proto-Clause 28? Well, when exactly was this Act introduced?
This kind of thing should be easy to verify, but the online records of the House of Lords Journal only go back to 1995, Divisions Results to 1997, and Debates by Member to 2006. Luckily, the raw Hansard database is available - but searching for the internet's name for the Act proved fruitless. It transpires that (most of) the internet is mistaken, and that the relevant legislation is in fact called "The Local Government Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill", and Halsbury introduced it on 25 November, 1986. Additionally, as Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left recounts, mainstream media and political attention had been originally drawn to the issue as early as mid-August.
So, the evidence is inconclusive. It's theoretically possible that "Shoplifters" could have been written in response to the homophobic politics of the day (although definitely not as part of the response to Clause 28). However, given the timing, this argument is unconvincing. In this instance I choose to take The Moz at his word: "Shoplifters of the World Unite" is for the sharing of culture, not against the persecution of sexual minorities. But that's kinda cool, too.
I'm currently bingeing on The Smiths because wildilocks. On Saturday I made a somewhat off-colour quip to the effect that Morrissey seemed to have been calling for a gay uprising in "Shirtlifters of the World Unite". Then, in the spirit of wasting several hours in pursuit of trivia, I plunged my head into the primordial internet abyss, the Googleungagap, and sure enough, despite the songwriter having said in interviews the year it was released that he was contrasting society's view of shoplifters and nuclear weapon-makers and that "shoplifting" referred to the re-use of cultural wealth, the internet has convinced itself that the song really is pro-gay, anti-Tory agitprop.
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was the Thatcher government's knee-jerk response to mid-'80s gay panic. It aimed to prevent local authorities (including state schools) from "promoting homosexuality". Its passage "served to galvanise the disparate British gay rights movement into action", says wikipedia; Boy George and Chumbawamba released songs attacking the legislation. So, there's some appeal to the notion that this song (which wikipedia claims, citelessly, is Morrissey's favourite Smiths track) might have been the band's contribution to that effort. But "Shoplifters of the World Unite" (don't you just want to punctuate that?) was released as a non-album single in January 1987, and wikipedia claims it was recorded in (Northern) Autumn, 1986. We can safely say that the song was written in late 1986; it's clearly not a response to "Clause 28".
Clause 28 wasn't introduced until December 1987. However the internet, refusing to abandon its theory, points out that it was preceded by a private member's bill introduced by John Gifford (irrelevantly a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien's who'd read The Silmarillion in 1957), supposedly titled "An act to refrain local authorities from promoting homosexuality". (Giffard, "the noble Earl, Lord Halsbury" - Hansard's use of this formula throughout must surely be less stenographic than aspirational - had no real problem with most of those people, you understand, but felt there was a certain class of homosexual, characterised by "exhibitionism; [...] promiscuity; [...] proselytising; [...] boasting of homosexual achievements [...and acting] as reservoirs of venereal diseases" who really did need to be acted upon. Urgently and firmly.) The net notes that this bill passed the Lords some time in 1986 but, although it was introduced to the Commons on 8 May, 1987, it was ultimately derailed by the announcement of the general election a few days later, and never re-introduced. So, is it possible "Shoplifters" is a response to this proto-Clause 28? Well, when exactly was this Act introduced?
This kind of thing should be easy to verify, but the online records of the House of Lords Journal only go back to 1995, Divisions Results to 1997, and Debates by Member to 2006. Luckily, the raw Hansard database is available - but searching for the internet's name for the Act proved fruitless. It transpires that (most of) the internet is mistaken, and that the relevant legislation is in fact called "The Local Government Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill", and Halsbury introduced it on 25 November, 1986. Additionally, as Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left recounts, mainstream media and political attention had been originally drawn to the issue as early as mid-August.
So, the evidence is inconclusive. It's theoretically possible that "Shoplifters" could have been written in response to the homophobic politics of the day (although definitely not as part of the response to Clause 28). However, given the timing, this argument is unconvincing. In this instance I choose to take The Moz at his word: "Shoplifters of the World Unite" is for the sharing of culture, not against the persecution of sexual minorities. But that's kinda cool, too.