Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 February 2022
I am delighted to speak in this members’ business debate, and I thank Karen Adam for giving MSPs the opportunity in the chamber to celebrate and reflect on LGBT history.
Each year, LGBT Youth Scotland creates a theme for LGBT history month. In February 2022, the theme is “blurring borders: a world in motion”. That challenges us to reflect on the journey towards equality around the world and the pace of change in different countries.
That theme has particular resonance for me. For a human resources director, a key consideration in moving people and their families around the world for work is the kind of culture and environment that they will be living and working in. Time and again, that brings into sharp relief the fact that the rights that we have in the UK are not universally shared. That is important for the LGBT community, because there are 69 countries in which it is still illegal to be gay. In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the northern states of Nigeria, the punishment is the death penalty. In those countries, LGBT people live in constant fear of being outed. That is a sobering reminder that, although the UK and Scotland have made much progress, there is much progress to be made elsewhere.
Even in countries in which LGBT people are no longer criminalised, marriage equality remains an issue. Same-sex marriage is legal in 31 countries, but it is unlawful in many more. That means that gay couples often do not have the same rights in law that heterosexual married couples have. That injustice was painfully and poignantly explored in the sequel to the film, “If These Walls Could Talk”, when Edith was unable to be at the bedside of her partner, Abby, as she died and was asked by Abby’s family to leave the home that they had shared for 30 years. That is still the awful reality for many same-sex couples who are unable to marry.
The Netherlands was, of course, the first country to legalise gay marriage, in 2001. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed in England and Wales in July 2013. David Cameron described that as one of his proudest moments. Scotland followed suit in December 2014. I still remember seeing pictures of the incredible celebrations of love that followed the change in the law. In Scotland and the UK, we have made great strides towards equality, but there is still much more that must be done.
Next week, the University of Dundee will host an event commemorating Jonathan Leslie, who took his own life in Stonehaven two years ago, following intense homophobic harassment. Jonathan’s passing is a tragic reminder that we cannot be complacent and that equality in the law does not always mean equality in the eyes of another.
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