Hansard

I begin, as other members have done, by congratulating Patrick Harvie on bringing the issue to Parliament for debate. It is a debate that acknowledges the diversity that exists in Scotland and which celebrates the benefits of that diversity. I am delighted that people feel that Parliament is making progress on LGBT issues.

From its outset, the Scottish Parliament has been concerned with promoting equal opportunities. The Scotland Act 1998 explicitly defines equal opportunities as including sexual orientation. As an Executive, we are committed to promoting equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as part of our wider work on mainstreaming equality and promoting equal opportunities.

Over the past few years, the Scottish Parliament has passed significant legislation that promotes equality. An example of that is the provision in Scots law that acknowledges same-sex couples. Along with Executive agencies and partners in health and local government, we have taken action to change how our public services are delivered, to ensure that people can access those services without experiencing discrimination or prejudice on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We understand that another of the tasks that are before us is to positively influence change in wider social attitudes towards people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The 2002 Scottish social attitudes survey showed that although people acknowledge that there is a great deal of prejudice against lesbians and gay men, there is reluctance to say that something should be done about it. As several members have said, that needs to be addressed.

Alongside legislation, we need to consider other ways of tackling prejudice. Last year Malcolm Chisholm hosted a seminar for LGBT organisations so that the Executive could hear directly from those communities about their experiences and ask what they thought needed to be done to tackle prejudice. We listened to what was said and have taken action. A group of LGBT organisations is now working with us to develop an action plan for tackling prejudice and discrimination. It is hoped that the working group will deliver its action plan towards the end of the year.

The needs of LGBT young people, and other young people who find themselves affected by these issues, need to be addressed. Where homophobia occurs in our schools, it must be tackled. Any form of bullying, including homophobic bullying, is completely unacceptable. We commissioned LGBT Youth Scotland—which has been mentioned in the debate—in partnership with the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland to carry out research on how schools deal with homophobic incidents. We know from the research that, although the majority of homophobic incidents are challenged, teachers would welcome supportive materials that would increase their confidence and awareness levels in this area. We are looking to see how such materials can be supplied.

Cultural issues have also been mentioned in the debate. It is fair to pay tribute to the tremendous contribution that LGBT people have made to the cultural life of Scotland, which is already recognised in festivals such as Glasgay. A vigorous and diverse cultural life is at the core of the Executive's aspirations for Scotland. We intend that everyone should have equality of opportunity in accessing and participating in Scotland's rich and diverse cultural landscape.

The Executive has announced its support for a number of pathfinder projects that focus on the needs of different underrepresented and marginalised groups. In particular, it is hoped that community groups that currently face barriers to participation in cultural activity will be encouraged to experience the benefits of culture through the pathfinder projects. In turn, we hope that the learning from those projects will be used to inform the ways in which entitlements are delivered across Scotland. LGBT communities are included in the pathfinder programme along with other underrepresented groups—disabled people, minority ethnic communities, older people, people who live in areas of multiple deprivation and people in peripheral communities.

LGBT history month provides an opportunity to raise awareness of LGBT issues generally and to impact positively on social attitudes. I remind members of the impact that Sheila Rowbotham's seminal work, "Hidden from History: 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Against It", had on the development of the feminist movement. The recovery of the history of the LGBT community is an important dimension in building awareness more generally. That point has certainly been made positively in the debate.

My predecessors as Minister for Communities agreed to fund LGBT Youth Scotland to develop materials that are aimed at helping people to understand better the global, national and local histories of LGBT communities. The project, which is set against contemporary Scottish culture, will also raise awareness locally and nationally, and contribute positively to LGBT communities and wider society. I am delighted that a significant programme of events and activities is taking place this year—there will be around 150 across Scotland. I congratulate LGBT Youth Scotland on its work on delivering this programme. I hope that its LGBT programming will have the same kind of impact that feminism had around 20 years ago in terms of recovering a history and bringing to the fore an explosion of different kinds of activities.

The Executive's support for LGBT history month will continue next year and beyond. I look forward to further progress on LGBT equality in the months and years ahead. I hope that everyone in the Parliament will participate in taking forward that agenda.