Once known as a bastn of social nservatism, Stland has changed dramatilly a generatn, not least through the electn of gay ndidat.
Contents:
- HOW STLAND BEME THE WORLD LEAR ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN
- STLAND EMBRAC GAY POLICIANS A PROFOUND CULTURAL SHIFT
- GAY STTISH POLICIAN WHO BACKED PRO-LGBT SCHOOL PROGRAMS UGHT GROOMG 16-YEAR-OLD ONLE
HOW STLAND BEME THE WORLD LEAR ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN
"I get more abe for beg a Tory Stland than I do for beg a gay woman, " says Annie Wells, one of a batch of new MSPs voted at the electn this month that has ma the untry's parliament the most proportnally gay-iendly on step up to a seat Holyrood has brought the total number of openly gay, lbian and bisexual policians to ten, 7% of all MSPs.
You wouldn't be openly gay , " she new MSP for Glasgow also adms that her party's passn for LGBT rights uld be better. "We need to make more of showg that regardls of your genr, or if you’re gay, straight, bisexual, trans, that everyone's wele.
STLAND EMBRAC GAY POLICIANS A PROFOUND CULTURAL SHIFT
Davidson is one of four openly-gay party lears Stland.
When Ruth Davidson beme the first openly gay lear of the Sttish Conservative Party 2011, she was labeled the “kickboxg lbian. Homosexualy was illegal Stland until 1980 — England was crimalized 1967 — and as recently as 2000, billboards fanced by a Christian lnaire mpaigng to uphold a ban on schools’ talkg about homosexualy urged Sts to “Protect Our Children. ”Today, addn to the lears of three of the five major polil parti Stland, four misters the Sttish ernment are openly gay, as is the secretary of state for Stland Bra’s Conservative ernment.
Inpennce Party Stland is gay, Nun dos Santos for The New York TimOf the 129 members of the Sttish Parliament, a legislative assembly wh far-reachg tonomy om London, 10, or nearly 8 percent, intify as gay, lbian or bisexual, by one tally the hight known proportn for a natnal legislature anywhere. “Stland has the gayt Parliament the world, ” said Andrew Reynolds, a profsor at the Universy of North Carola at Chapel Hill who keeps track of the polil reprentatn of those who intify publicly as lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr, or L. By ntrast, the Uned Stat Congrs, reprentg a populatn 60 tim Stland’s, has six elected Hoe members and one senator who are openly gay, lbian or bisexual.
GAY STTISH POLICIAN WHO BACKED PRO-LGBT SCHOOL PROGRAMS UGHT GROOMG 16-YEAR-OLD ONLE
On Thursday, the Brish ernment announced that would posthumoly pardon thoands of men once nvicted of havg or seekg gay sex. (The 1885 Crimal Law Amendment Act, which ma homosexualy illegal, did not mentn women — some say to avoid givg them any ias. In turn, the openly gay policians who have emerged sce then have helped champn L.
“When you say you’re gay, people jt shg their shoulrs. But a mix of Calvism and Catholicism meant that on issu like abortn, divorce and homosexualy, Stland remaed more nservative than England for s. ” Nun dos Santos for The New York TimNow they are the third-largt party the Brish Parliament London, and eight of their 56 members of Parliament are openly gay, bisexual or lbian, a higher proportn than the other ma parti.
“I’m very proud to be the lear of the gayt parliamentary group the world, ” Ang Robertson, the (straight) puty lear of the Sttish Natnal Party, clared this month. His mpaign manager, Nathan Sparlg, regularly performs drag at G-A-Y, one of London’s bt-known gay clubs. Advocy group, although that also reflects the fact that reportg rat have the chang polics, policy and culture have been of the first thgs lawmakers did after the creatn of the Sttish Parliament 1999 was to repeal legislatn barrg schools om “promotg homosexualy, ” a law that had effectively muffled any discsn of L.