Saturday Magazine

12 Feb 2014

Scotland passes equal marriage legislation

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Scotland passes equal marriage legislation

Sammi Whitehead joins Geoffrey Devine for this week’s edition of Saturday Magazine which, among other things, takes a look at Scotland’s recent passing of equal marriage legislation.

When Colin McFarlane joined Stonewall Scotland, the eager young LGBTI campaigner was clear on his goals: “Working to ensure we secure the right for same sex couples to marry on the same basis as mixed sex couples, making sure no child has to suffer at school because of homophobic bullying and continuing our work in the public and private sector to enable them to deliver better policies for better lives means we’ve got a lot to do to bring about equal treatment for LGBT people in Scotland”.

Mr McFarlane spoke to Sammi and Geoffrey on this edition of Saturday Magazine.

In 2010, a “Social Attitudes” survey indicated that about 61% of Scotland’s population supported equal marriage. Just four years later, and Stonewall Scotland’s efforts have paid off, with the passing of equal marriage legislation in the Scottish parliament early this month. Scottish MP Linda Fabiani, one of the 105 who voted in favour of the bill, spoke of her pleasure at being a part of such a historic moment.

“This is an incredibly historic moment for the Parliament and for equality in Scotland. I am pleased to have played a part and that the result was delivered by a majority of MSPs from all parties. As I said just before the historic vote in chamber – ‘This is absolutely the right thing to do… I want everyone to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. For Scotland to become the 17th country to legalise same-sex marriage shows it to be one of Parliament’s best moments. I look forward to the day when we can all just refer to it as ‘marriage.” she told the UK’s Daily Record.

Of-course, equal marriage is just one (albeit major) step on the road to equality. As Colin McFarlane says, attitudes among young people in schools are still some of the most pressing issues in need of change.

“Kids aren’t born bigoted. They’re taught it’ says Macfarlane. The word ‘gay’ is still used as a put down, but schools still don’t know how to talk about homophobic bullying. People are broken by it”.

Do you think LGBTI issues should be more present in our education system? Let us know over at the Saturday Magazine Facebook page.