Stland is now a place where you n be glad to be gay | Val McDermid | The Guardian

Contents:

• ILLEGAL TO BE GAY - STLAND'S HISTORY
• COMG OOT: THE FABULO HISTORY OF GAY STLAND
• GAY EDBURGH, STLAND | THE ESSENTIAL LGBT TRAVEL GUI!
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS STLAND
• DISVER THE ULTIMATE GAY STLAND 10 DAYS ERARY
• STLAND IS NOW A PLACE WHERE YOU N BE GLAD TO BE GAY
• GAY STLAND (UK) TRAVEL GUI

ILLEGAL TO BE GAY - STLAND'S HISTORY

Image source, PAImage ptn, Gay Pri Edburgh 2016Stland pris self on beg one of the most progrsive untri Europe on issu of sexualy and genr inty but for gay men was not always such an open-md place. England and Wal n now mark 50 years sce the historic reforms which partially crimalised homosexualy between two nsentg men private over 21 years of age.

Nick explas his bsh wh the says: "I was so trated and lonely and isolated and all those thgs that sgle people go through, and more so when you feel you're outsi of society, that I did what many gay men have done and that is I ed to e toilets to try to fd some sort of ntact.

COMG OOT: THE FABULO HISTORY OF GAY STLAND

The Wolfenn Commtee Image ptn, Sir John Wolfenn on the BBC 1957Sir John Wolfenn was asked by the Home Office to form a mtee to advise on how laws around homosexualy might be reformed. Relig groups, legal reprentativ om the home natns, civic lears and legislators all gave evince to the Departmental Commtee on Homosexual Offenc and Prostutn Great Bra fally submted s report 1957.

Sttish opposn Media ptn, "There's a lot of ristance to Wolfenn Stland"Dr Gayle Davis is a social historian om the Universy of Edburgh. "It's actually much more difficult to be prosecuted for homosexualy Stland than is England and Wal and therefore let's not touch . Around the same perd 1957 a poll nducted by the Daily Mirror, south of the borr, showed a much more even spl where 51% opposed crimalisg homosexualy.

Dr Davis adds: "Then also 's seen as, well we know Sttish people jt don't approve of homosexualy, that's what the church keep tellg . "So there's also a strong sense that, whether or not gay people are beg apprehend, that actually we fundamentally don't want to publicly state that 's acceptable. " Durg her rearch Dr Davis learned about some of the therapi beg ed to treat gay men nvicted of homosexual crim.

GAY EDBURGH, STLAND | THE ESSENTIAL LGBT TRAVEL GUI!

" Jam Adair - voice of dissent A Sttish voice who opposed crimalisatn of homosexualy Stland was Jam Adair OBE, a former Procurator Fisl of Glasgow and sat on the Wolfenn mtee and formed the only dissentg voice. The Assembly's firm opposn warned that legislatn which sought to legimise homosexualy would only crease "this grave evil". 21st Century StlandImage ptn, Marchg at Edburgh's gay pri para 2016Dr Davis says that, MPs such as Rob Cook were fluential motivatg change Stland through the 1970s and 1980s.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS STLAND

However is an unfortable fact that Stland did lag behd other parts of the UK que substantially on s legal posn on homosexualy - a stance which the Sttish ernment now scrib as discrimatn. "Image source, GPAImage ptn, Police Stland are the top twenty of Stonewall's equali x and march regularly gay pri events StlandThe Sttish ernment has plans to troduce a scheme which would allow some gay men to have historil nvictns, no longer nsired illegal, to be removed om crimal rerds.

"Progrs still to be maImage ptn, A Stonewall T-shirt worn at Glasgow Pri 2014Stonewall Stland mpaigns for equaly for lbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. Life for LGBT+ young people Stland is “worse now than has been for a long time”, acrdg to a report that highlights growg ncerns about homophobia public spac, bullyg schools and transphobic media five-yearly report om the mpaigng and advocy group LGBT Youth Stland found a sharp crease rponnts who believe that Stland is a good place for LGBTI young people to live, fallg om 81% 2017 to 65% 2022 and the first drop the figure for 15 was also a signifint crease those who believe that homophobia and transphobia is a “big problem” Stland sce the last survey was unrtaken 2017 – risg om 11% to 25% and 49% to 69% Life Stland report, first veloped 2007 and fund by the Sttish ernment, offers a snapshot of how young LGBT+ Sts experience a range of issu and servic, and this year showed an pecially strong reprentatn of participants who intify as transgenr. The ag of rponnts ranged om 13 to 25 and of the total, 35% intified as gay or lbian, 31% as bisexual and 19% as queer.

But polil engagement remaed extremely high: 94% of those eligible to vote said they did up to First Edn, our ee daily newsletter – every weekday morng at 7amPrentg the rults, Dr Kathleen Cronie, rearch officer for LGBT Youth Stland, said: “Rpons dite that homophobia and transphobia are on the rise and that biphobia remas a problem, for example wh upl holdg hands public attractg star and ments, feelg unsafe public areas like public transport, and the difficulty faced navigatg a plex onle environment.

DISVER THE ULTIMATE GAY STLAND 10 DAYS ERARY

"He says homosexualy was somethg fai, relig stutns, the medil profsn and society at large all chose to source, Elae LivgstoneImage ptn, San (left) and Gerrie Douglas-Stt had Nila Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie as wns at their weddg"Growg up queer post-war Stland is sentially occupyg a social and sexual wilrns, " Dr Meek of male homosexualy had been outlawed for centuri and were ma stricter the late 19th Century but same-sex ntact between women had never been targeted law and was not illegal.

Homosexual men were forced unrground to public toilets or illic Meek says: "The nsequenc of beg ught were signifint. "Image source, Equaly Network/Same Love PhotographyImage ptn, Douglas Pretsell and Peter Gloster formalised their marriage SydneyPeople went to prison for sometim two years or were locked up psychiatric 1957, after a succsn of well-known men were nvicted of homosexual offenc, the Wolfenn report remend that "homosexual behavur between nsentg adults private should no longer be a crimal offence". "It took a for the remendatns of the Wolfenn report to be bee law England and Wal, crimalisg homosexualy for men over 21.

STLAND IS NOW A PLACE WHERE YOU N BE GLAD TO BE GAY

But bee of Jam Adair, homosexualy Stland remaed illegal, classified as crimally-praved source, Getty ImagMany gay Sts had to rign themselv to a life the 1969, a brave group of gay Sts cid they uld not change their sexualy so they set out to change SMG (Sttish Mori Group) arranged diss and get-togethers for gay men and for lbian women.

The SMG started to make money and leased property Broughton Street Edburgh where set up the Gay Informatn Centre and operated a telephone, historian and gay activist Bob Cant says: "I thk the Sttish Mori Group serv an enormo amount of cred. "Thirteen years after the law was reformed England, Labour MP Rob Cook lodged an amendment the Sttish Crimal Jtice Bill and homosexualy was fally crimalised Stland ptn, Leanne and Marie Banks were one of the first gay upl Stland to bee marriedThat saw an explosn of gay culture to the mastream. In Glasgow, the gay mec was mentator Damian Barr tells a BBC Stland documentary: "I uld not have imaged a place like this existed.

GAY STLAND (UK) TRAVEL GUI

"Dpe the study relatg to dg addicts and the figur beg batable, homosexual sex was once aga portrayed as somethg to 1987 Margaret Thatcher's ernment went to war wh the gay source, Tged Memori / Equaly NetworkImage ptn, Joe Schofield (left) and partner Mallm Brown (right) were among the first to marry unr the new lawThe prime mister told the Tory nference: "Children who need to be tght the tradnal moral valu are beg tght that they have an alienable right to be gay. "Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988 prohibed "the teachg of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship". "There was outrage and protts across the untry at this rollg back of the rights of gay people but the law stayed place until the re-tablishment of the Sttish Parliament of s first acts was to repeal Sectn 28 but had a battle on s hands.

Journalist David Torrance says that spe beg very unpleasant at the time was a "thartic" experience that got Stland talkg about gay rights issu and fally swept away the old the Millennium, Sts attus to homosexualy have changed dramatilly. Surveys suggt that more than two thirds of Sts actively approve of gay marriage and is now homophobia that is 2005, civil partnerships were ma legal for gay upl and the followg year same-sex upl were able to year, as the Commonwealth Gam was beg shown around the world, Stland clared s new openns wh a kilted gay kiss as part of the openg year end wh gay marriage beg legal Stland and the lear of the Sttish Conservativ, a lbian, passnately supportg the move.