Discrimination

– Scottish Parliament written question – answered at on 1 December 2004.

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Photo of Nora Radcliffe Nora Radcliffe Liberal Democrat

Question S2W-12360

To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department has engaged in to address homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Photo of Nora Radcliffe Nora Radcliffe Liberal Democrat

Question S2W-12361

To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Environment and Rural Affairs Department has engaged in to tackle homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Photo of Nora Radcliffe Nora Radcliffe Liberal Democrat

Question S2W-12362

To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Development Department has engaged in to tackle homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Photo of Malcolm Chisholm Malcolm Chisholm Labour

The Scottish Executive firmly believes that there is no place in Scotland for homophobic prejudice or discrimination. Our Equality Strategy provides a framework for all departments to tackle prejudice and discrimination and promote equal opportunities.

The Executive’s Equality Unit is working closely with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities to develop the Executive’s understanding of homophobia and facilitate consultation and engagement between all Scottish Executive departments and LGBT people. Funding has been provided to ensure that consultation and engagement continues.

In addition:

we are working in schools to address homophobic bullying, including:

establishing and funding an anti-bullying network which addresses bullying, including homophobic bullying in schools; running an anti-bullying competition for schools, themed on anti-discrimination; tendering a project aimed at identifying and assessing the practices schools use when dealing with homophobic bullying as well as the extent of staff and pupil’s awareness in recognising homophobic behaviour; we have established an LGBT Education Forum where key stakeholders in the education and equality fields meet with Education Department officials to discuss LGBT issues in school education policy; we have funded an "Inclusion In LGBT Health" project which has gathered evidence and undertaken research to identify support needed by local NHS services to better meet the needs of the LGBT community. It is supporting demonstration projects in NHS board areas and delivering LGBT Health awareness-raising training. The project has become a fundamental part of the Health Department Equality and Diversity Approach; we are considering the report of an independent Working Group on Hate Crime set up to consider the most appropriate measures needed to combat crime based on hatred towards social groups. One of the group’s recommendations is for the introduction of a statutory aggravation for crimes motivated by malice or ill-will towards an individual based on their sexual orientation or transgender identity. The group, which included representatives from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, submitted its report in October 2004; we have undertaken a large scale research project looking at the position of Scotland’s LGBT communities and, in the coming year, the third stage of the project will examine local authority policies and practice in relation to LGBT people with a view to promoting good practice, and we have delivered a range of Scottish Parliament legislation which recognises same sex partners, helping to counter the discrimination that they face, including the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, and the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001.

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