Scotland is internationally recognised as a welcoming and inclusive nation. On 11th March 2021, the Scottish Parliament passed the Hate Crime Bill sending a clear signal that discrimination and hatred towards marginalised groups including the LGBT+ community is not tolerated in Scotland.

A couple take in the view of Edinburgh_LGBT image

A couple take in the view of Edinburgh.

Equality for all

Scotland is fully supportive of the LGBT+ community - It was the first UK country to consult on same-sex marriage, which became law on the 16 December 2014 through the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014.

In 2018, Scotland formed its LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group, which was created to implement the recommendations of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group. The group, which includes members from across government, charities and educational boards, aims to deliver all recommendations made by the working group by the end of March 2021.

The Scottish Government continues to support and work with a variety of organisations including the Equality Network, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland and the Scottish Transgender Alliance.

Stonewall Scotland

Stonewall, the UK LGBT+ charity, was founded in 1989 by a group of people who had been active in the struggle against Section 28 of the Local Government Act, which prevented the so-called 'promotion' of homosexuality in schools and stigmatised LGBT+ people.

The charity is renowned for its campaigning and lobbying for equality for the LGBT+ community. Stonewall has four main priorities, to empower individuals; to transform institutions; to change hearts and minds and to change laws.

To date, Stonewall has succeeded in helping to change legislation including to equalise the age of consent, lifting the ban on LGBT+ people serving in the military, securing legislation which allowed same-sex couples to adopt and the repeal of Section 28. Stonewall also helped to secure civil partnerships and same-sex marriage and ensured that the recent Equality Act protected LGBT+ people in terms of goods and services. There is ongoing lobbying of government to ban conversion therapy.

For more information on Stonewall Scotland visit stonewallscotland.org.uk

Inclusive Events

Scotland continues to support the global LGBT+ community through many channels including business events. As an LGBT+ friendly destination our venues and partners are happy to discuss how to make events inclusive for all delegates.

There are a variety of simple changes you can make to ensure everyone feels comfortable before, during and after your event. This could include updating registrations forms to include alternative gender options, removing gendered greetings in mail outs and at the event and including pronouns on name badges.