Editing Thatcherism (section)

== Domestic and social positions ==
{{blockquote|All too often the ills of this country are passed off as those of society. Similarly, when action is required, society is called upon to act. But society as such does not exist except as a concept. Society is made up of people. It is people who have duties and beliefs and resolve. It is people who get things done. [Thatcher] prefers to think in terms of the acts of individuals and families as the real sinews of society rather than of society as an abstract concept. Her approach to society reflects her fundamental belief in personal responsibility and choice. To leave things to {{em|society}} is to run away from the real decisions, practical responsibility and effective action.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview for ''Woman's Own'' ('no such thing as society') with journalist Douglas Keay|date=23 September 1987|url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689|publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation|access-date=10 April 2007 |quote=Most unusually a statement elucidating the remark was issued by {{sic|No.|10}}, at the request of the ''Sunday Times'' and published on 10 July 1988 in the 'Atticus' column.}}</ref>|author=No.&nbsp;10|title=Statement|source=''[[The Sunday Times]]'' (10 July 1988)}}

=== Thatcherite morality ===
Thatcherism is associated with a conservative stance on [[morality]].{{sfnm|1a1=Tracey|1a2=Herzog|1y=2014|1pp=63–76|2a1=Wallerstein|2a2=Huggins|2a3=Davis|2y=1991|2p=142|3a1=Skidelsky|3y=1989|3p=165}} {{harvp|Sutcliffe-Braithwaite|2012}} argues that Thatcherism married conservatism with [[free-market economics]]. Thatcherism did not propose dramatic new [[wikt:panacea|panacea]]s such as Milton Friedman's [[negative income tax]]. Instead, the goal was to create a rational [[Tax-benefit model|tax-benefit economic system]] that would increase British [[Economic efficiency|efficiency]] while supporting a conservative social system based on traditional morality.  There would still be a minimal [[Social safety net|safety net]] for the poor, but the major emphasis was on encouraging individual effort and [[wikt:thrift|thrift]].  Thatcherism sought to minimise the importance of welfare for the middle classes and reinvigorate Victorian [[bourgeois]] virtues. Thatcherism was family centred, unlike the extreme individualism of most neoliberal models. It had its roots in historical experiences such as [[Methodism]] and the fear of the too-powerful state that had troubled Hayek.

[[Norman Tebbit]], a close ally of Thatcher, laid out in a 1985 lecture what he thought to be the [[permissive society]] that conservatives should oppose:
{{blockquote|Bad art was as good as good art. Grammar and spelling were no longer important. To be clean was no better than to be filthy. Good manners were no better than bad. Family life was derided as an outdated bourgeois concept. Criminals deserved as much sympathy as their victims. Many homes and classrooms became disorderly; if there was neither right nor wrong there could be no basis for punishment or reward. Violence and soft pornography became accepted in the media. Thus was sown the wind; and we are now reaping the whirlwind.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tebbit |first=Norman |title=Back to the old traditional values |newspaper=The Guardian Weekly |date=24 November 1985}}  Quoted in {{harvtxt|Eccleshall|2002|p=247}}.</ref>}}

Despite her association with [[social conservatism]], Thatcher voted in 1966 to legalise homosexuality, one of the few Conservative MPs to do so.<ref>{{cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/05/sexual-offences-no-2|title=Sexual Offences (No. 2)|date=5 July 1966|house=House of Commons|volume=731|page=267 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Doran|first=Tom |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/margaret-thatchers-legacy-on-gay-rights|title=Margaret Thatcher's Legacy on Gay Rights |date=21 April 2017 |orig-date=8 April 2013 |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> That same year, she also voted in support of legal abortion.<ref>{{Cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/22/medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill|title=Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill |date=22 July 1966|house=House of Commons|volume=732|page=1165 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> However, in the 1980s during her time as prime minister, the Thatcher government enacted [[Section 28]], a law that opposed the "intentional promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities and "promotion" of the teaching of "the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" in schools.<ref>{{Cite legislation UK |type=act |year=1988 |chapter=9 |act=Local Government Act 1988 |section=28 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> In her 1987 speech to the Conservative Party conference, Thatcher stated:{{blockquote|
Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay&nbsp;... All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life—yes, cheated.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106941 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |date=9 October 1987 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |access-date=30 December 2018}}</ref>}}

The law was opposed by many [[LGBT rights in the United Kingdom|gay rights]] advocates such as [[Stonewall (charity)|Stonewall]] and [[OutRage!]]. Tony Blair's Labour government repealed it in 2000 (in Scotland) and 2003.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |title=When gay became a four-letter word |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/611704.stm | date=20 January 2000 | access-date=4 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite legislation UK |type=act |year=2003 |chapter=26 |act=Local Government Act 2003 |section=122 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> Conservative prime minister David Cameron later issued an official apology for previous Conservative policies on homosexuality, specifically the introduction of the controversial Section 28 laws from the 1980s, viewing past ideological views as "a mistake" with [[Political positions of David Cameron|his ideological direction]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/british-conservatives-lead-charge-for-gay-marriage/2012/03/29/gIQAzatzjS_story.html|title=British Conservatives lead charge for gay marriage|first=Anthony|last=Faiola|date=29 March 2012|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=3 November 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Regarding [[feminism]] Thatcher said "The feminists hate me, don't they? And I don't blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison"<ref>{{cite book |title=Women's Writing, 1660-1830 Feminisms and Futures |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=57}}</ref> and "I owe nothing to [[Women's lib]]".<ref>{{cite book |title=Rethinking Right-wing Women Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the Present |date=2017 |publisher=Manchester University Press}}</ref>

=== Sermon on the Mound ===
{{Main|Sermon on the Mound}}
In May 1988, Thatcher gave an address to the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland|General Assembly]] of the [[Church of Scotland]]. In the speech, Thatcher offered a theological justification for her ideas on capitalism and the market economy. She said, "Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform", and she quoted [[St Paul]] by saying, "If a man will not work he shall not eat". Choice played a significant part in Thatcherite reforms, and Thatcher said that choice was also Christian, stating that [[Jesus Christ]] chose to lay down his life and that all individuals have the God-given right to choose between [[good and evil]].