EQUAL rights campaigners say that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Scotland still face widespread inequality despite recent advances such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
A major new report published by the Equality Network found that nine out of ten LGBT Scots believes that their home country still has a problem accepting them.
Almost all those who took part in the survey of 1052 people said that they had faced prejudice or discrimination at some point, with nearly four out of five saying that the situation had occurred with the past year.
Incidents reported ranged from homophobic, biphobic and transphobic comments to verbal abuse, physical attacks, sexual assault and crimes against property
A quarter of those who took part in the survey said they had faced discrimination when accessing services and at their jobs, and many said they did not feel comfortable revealing their sexuality or gender identity to co-workers, their family or when accessing services.
Meanwhile, 43 per cent of responders said they had considered moving away from Scotland because of the attitudes they had to face, while a quarter who lived in rural areas said the countryside was ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ place for LGBT people to live.
Susannah McWhirter, a 17 year old lesbian student from Kilmarnock who faced homophobic bullying at school, was one of those who shared her views in the report.
She said: “In my second year of secondary school I was bullied for being gay and although some teachers wanted to help they had no experience in how to deal with it.
"The whole situation was badly handled. I was called names such as "lesbo" and "dyke". I received abusive comments and death threats on social media.
"Other pupils harassed me and questioned my sexuality. I even had to drop PE altogether because other students felt uncomfortable with me being in the same changing room. I felt alone. Some days I couldn't face going to school. I know my experience is not unusual."
Felix Rayna, a 24 year old gay man from the north east of Scotland who recently moved to London to escape prejudice, said; “I came out at the age of 15, living in a small rural town on the north east coast.
"It wasn't easy for me to hide who I was and I was verbally assaulted on a daily basis by other students in my high school and even people in the street. Teachers would tell me I was "bringing it on myself" because of how I dressed, because of who I was.
"These memories and the narrow-mindedness of people in my town left me hating the place. I stopped going outside and would only get jobs that were at least an hour away so people didn’t recognise me."
Tom French, Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator for the Equality Network, said that the report sends a clear message about the huge scale of change still needed before LGBT people will have full equality in Scotland.
He called for the probe's recommendations to be used as a blueprint for further work to remove inequality in the law, change attitudes and tackle prejudice and hate crime.
He said: “The Scottish LGBT Equality report reveals the stark reality of the prejudice, discrimination and other forms of disadvantage that LGBT people continue to face in Scotland.
"It is clear that while we have made welcome progress in recent years there is still much more to do before LGBT people will experience real equality in their day-to-day lives."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: Despite the significant progress made in relation to LGBT equality, particularly in recent years, we are aware of the inequality still facing LGBT people and communities today.
"There is no place for any homophobic, biphobic or transphobic prejudice or discrimination in modern day Scotland or anywhere else."
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