Tag: LGBT

Join the virtual Pride Edinburgh this morning

This weekend, city streets were due to welcome thousands of people for the annual Pride Edinburgh march.

The event was due to celebrate 25 years since the first Scottish Pride in 1995 but, while the march won’t proceed quite as planned, you can still show your support for Edinburgh’s LGBT+ community online. 

This morning there is a virtual Pride breakfast which has been organised by LGBT Health and Wellbeing. The family-friendly event will feature special guests and live music.

An online drag queen story hour for all the family will take place with Aida H Dee, as well as a family friendly rave in the afternoon. Showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the virtual event will also aim to highlight and celebrate the city’s BAME community, including those who identify as LGBT+. 

Our LGBT+ Council colleague network, STRIDE, said: “For decades, LGBT+ people and Black and Minority Ethnic people have shared experiences of police brutality and discrimination.

The fight for equal rights is still very much ongoing, especially for Black and Minority Ethnic people, and we stand alongside their community as we always have and always will. There is no place for inequality or injustice in our society.”

As an inclusive employer and to demonstrate our support, we’ll be flying the rainbow and transgender Pride flags from the City Chambers for the whole weekend. 

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Edinburgh will look slightly less colourful this weekend without the show-stopping banners, t-shirts and celebrations which usually take centre stage at Pride.

“I’m sorry to everyone who had planned to take part and can’t. I’d like to thank the organisers for prioritising health and safety by moving online and thank those focusing their efforts on racial equality as part of Pride.

“Next year I hope we can celebrate bigger than ever. Edinburgh is a City that all of us should take pride in.”  

 

Cammy Day, Depute Leader, added: “I’m proud that we’re supporting our LGBT+ colleagues and citizens by flying the rainbow and transgender flags above the City Chambers once again, particularly in this 25th anniversary year.

“These flags are an important symbol of love and inclusion, and fly against all forms of discrimination, intolerance, injustice or prejudice in our incredible, diverse City.”

The Library is Open: Scotland’s LGBT literary legends get set to celebrate Book Week in Edinburgh

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Crime writer Val McDermid is to join other LGBT literary legends to celebrate Scotland’s LGBT literary heritage as part of Book Week Scotland this weekend. Val joins authors Louise Welsh, Zoe Strachan, Allan Radcliffe and Ryan Vance for ‘The Library is Open‘, an evening of readings and conversation this Saturday at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.

Continue reading The Library is Open: Scotland’s LGBT literary legends get set to celebrate Book Week in Edinburgh

First Minister supports LGBT History Month

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LGBT History Month takes place in Scotland every February. It is an opportunity to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender lives and culture, and to recognise the significant contribution LGBT people have made to our country and the world at large.

Aligned with Scotland’s ‘Year of Innovation’, LGBT History Month 2016 will highlight ‘LGBT innovators’ who have made a difference in Scotland.

The 2016 brochure features a stunningly illustrated Edwin Morgan poem, ‘Strawberries’. Born in the West End of Glasgow in 1920, Morgan was Glasgow’s first official Poet Laurette and Scotland’s first official Makar, his poems often refer to gay love and life in Glasgow and he was an active supporter of LGBT rights.

This year ‘LGBT Innovator’ First Minister Nicola Sturgeon expresses her support for LGBT History Month. Ms Sturgeon has consistently expressed her support for LGBTI people and communities, supporting the introduction of the ground breaking Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act in 2014, opposing David Cameron’s plans to repeal the Human Rights Act and last year was named ‘Politician of the Year’ at Scotland’s first LGBTI Awards.

First Minister for Scotland Nicola Sturgeon commented: ‘I have always been committed to making Scotland a fair and equal society for all, and we are making great strides in doing so for the LGBT community’.

‘We have seen a change in the law to allow same-sex couples to adopt jointly and the introduction of hate crime legislation extended to cover LGBT people; Scotland was also the first country in Europe to provide national government funding to a transgender rights project, and Scotland has its own standalone Gender Reassignment Protocol.

“Same sex marriage is now legal and I took great pride in not only leading the consultation on marriage for same sex couples, but also attending one of the very first same sex marriage ceremonies in Scotland. That decision challenges the negative attitudes that still exist today towards LGBT people, and shows love is love regardless of a person’s sexual orientation.

‘The Scottish Government has strongly supported LGBT History Month since 2005 and it provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made, but also look to the future and what more can be achieved.

‘Continuing to address the barriers that exist for LGBT people in Scotland and ensuring that everyone has the same chances to participate in every aspect of life is, for me, the most effective way of making sure that each and everyone one of us benefits from the diversity this fantastic country and its people has to offer’.

Fergus McMillan, Chief Executive of LGBT Youth Scotland commented:  ‘We are delighted that the First Minister supports LGBT History Month. This year the brochure, featuring more than 40 events, is supported by the Equality Network, LEAP Sports Scotland and Stonewall Scotland. Events will take place all across Scotland, facilitated by organisations, community groups and LGBTI artists from the Scottish Borders to the Highlands.’

‘With the LGBTI Innovators theme we hope to highlight the musicians, artists, sports people, activists and unsung heroes who have really made a difference to LGBT life here in Scotland. We want to know your stories so tell us your LGBT Innovators on our social media channels and go to the website www.lgbthistory.org.uk for the full programme.”

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Get LOUD over homophobia!

North Edinburgh Young Peoples Forum member LAURA says we must speak out when we encounter homophobia …

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How are the LGBTQIA* community portrayed in the media?

Society has certainly progressed in the acceptance of people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex or asexual, but how do we portray them in media?

Many people are still offended by people identifying as LGBTQ, but with same-sex marriage being legalised in many countries and states, the media is starting to recognise and portray more LGBTQIA people in films and TV Shows.

However, if a character in a TV show is portrayed, for example, as being lesbian, their sexuality is almost always a huge part of the plot and they are commonly shown as having had many girlfriends just to prove that they are lesbian. The same goes for people being portrayed as gay.

But TV shows are reluctant to feature transgendered people, whether they are trans-male/trans-female or simply non-binary, and asexuals/aromantics are normally shown as people who haven’t ‘met the right person’.

However, while TV Shows and films are certainly improving the way they portray LGBTQIA people, some channels are still portraying them negatively.

Stonewall, a charity for LGBTQIA people, discovered that “Gay people and their lives are five times more likely to be portrayed in negative terms on the BBC” and that “BBC programmes frequently use gay sexuality for making jokes or as an insult, and rely heavily on clichéd stereotypes”.

In July 2010, Stonewall published research about representation in youth television: 49% of portrayal was stereotypical and 0.6 of the content they viewed portrayed LGBTQIA people ‘positively and realistically’.

So what is there to do about negative portrayal of the LGBTQIA community in media?

Obviously, you can complain to the television companies, but not a lot can come from a single complaint letter or e-mail. The key to making a difference is to get LOUD.

You can get into contact with various different charities, Stonewall is an excellent example of one of them, and organise a protest or campaign. You can get your friends and families all to write letters of complaint – the more the merrier. You can put what you’ve seen on the internet for the world to see. There are countless other ways to stop discrimination against LGBTQIA people, and its easy to get involved.

Whether you’ve read something homophobic in a newspaper or magazine, seen stereotypes of LGBTQIA people on TV, or heard something offensive on the radio, it’s easy to get involved, and it’s your responsibility. If everyone waits for somebody else to do it – nobody will.

You can see Stonewalls page about the portrayal of LGTQIA people in the media at: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/research_and_policy/2875.asp

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Laura, North Edinburgh Young Peoples Forum

Pictures by Nicki and Josh (NEYPF)

* Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and asexual.