‘Could do better’ – Tatchell’s view on Scotland’s gay rights record - Herald Scotland | News | Home News

‘Could do better’ – Tatchell’s view on Scotland’s gay rights record - Herald Scotland | News | Home News

By Mark Smith

0 commentsPublished on 1 Nov 2009

In the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow there’s a little black book that shows just how far Scotland has come on gay rights – and how far it still has to go.

For page after page, there are comments like “love is love” and “being different isn’t wrong”. Then suddenly the tone gets darker. Someone has written in thick black ink: “Your all going to the bad fire.” Just underneath that, someone else has had the last laugh: “And you ought to go back to grammatical basics.”

This mix of good, bad and funny (but overwhelmingly good) comments in the visitor’s book for the gallery’s sh[OUT] exhibition reflects the mixed progress Scotland has made on equality for gay and lesbian people. This week Peter Tatchell, the legendary gay rights campaigner, visited the exhibition to deliver a speech on human rights and said that while there are good signs of change in Scotland – such as the new law on gay adoption – there are bad signs too, such as a rise in homophobic attacks.

New figures seem to support him. Strathclyde Police told the Sunday Herald this week that there were 254 homophobic incidents in their area in 2008-09, steeply up from 189 in 2007-08. In 2003-04, there were only 50. Tatchell says this rise may be down to gay people becoming more visible: “As more and more have the confidence to express their affection in public, this makes them vulnerable to the hardcore homophobic minority who still harbour violent responses to homosexuality.”

The recent change in the law on aggravated crime in Scotland – which extends hate-crime legislation, with extra penalties, to cover attacks on gay and lesbians and comes into force next year – will help, says Tatchell, but England and Wales have had this legislation since 2003.

There’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. They tend to take less action against it too
“I’m glad some of these deficiencies are now being addressed,” he said. “The additional penalties send a clear signal that Scotland stands for a safe environment for all its people including those who are lesbian and gay.”

Tatchell said last month’s reform which means gay couples in Scotland can now adopt was also a big advance. But again, this is two years behind England and Wales, and Tatchell is angry that the Scottish Government appeared to be willing to consider an exemption for the Catholic Church. Earlier this year the Sunday Herald reported how Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, told the Church she was comfortable with plans by a Catholic adoption agency in Glasgow to refuse same-sex couples. No-one from the Catholic Church was available yesterday to comment.

“I am disturbed by the way in which the SNP government appears to be willing to appease homophobia within the Catholic hierarchy,” said Tatchell. “Intolerance can never be justified by faith. Allowing same-sex couples to foster and adopt children is a big advance for children and for gay people. This legislation has faced down and defeated the bigotry and intolerance of the Catholic Church.”

Tatchell said Catholic and other faith schools were also a concern. According to a recent report for Stonewall, the gay rights group, secondary school teachers in Britain say homophobic bullying is the second most common form after bullying on weight.

“Faith schools, of which there are plenty in Scotland, are still a major problem,” said Tatchell. “They don’t teach understanding and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the same extent as state schools and there’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. Faith schools tend to take less action against it, too.”

Tatchell does believe that the trend of public opinion is towards greater acceptance, but reaction to the sh[OUT] exhibition shows there are still sensitivities. The show explores the sexuality and lives of LGBT people and concludes today. It attracted controversy over the inclusion of images by Robert Mapplethorpe and organisers were also accused of censorship when they decided not to show video works by Spanish artist Dani Marti.

Sitting among the paintings and sculptures, Tatchell says the critical issue for improving the lives of gay people is tackling that rise in homophobic violence. There have been four homophobic murders in London this year and recently a gang attacked an off-duty policeman outside a gay bar in Liverpool. As well as the rise in Strathclyde, in Grampian there has been an increase from 23 homophobic incidents in 2008 to 31 so far in 2009. Lothian and Borders could not provide figures yesterday.

A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police said the rise could be down to people’s growing confidence in the police and also the mechanisms available for reporting such crimes. The ­spokesperson ­­

said: “Strathclyde Police encourages reporting of hate crimes and people can do this safe in the knowledge that reports will be investigated thoroughly.”

Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, said gay hate crime was a massive problem in Scotland. “These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, as many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people still do not feel able to report crimes against them.

“In many ways Scotland may be a less prejudiced place than it was 10 years ago but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.”

That assessment is close to Tatchell’s. He believes homophobic attacks are the last gasp of hardline homophobes. In many ways, he says, such as on the abolition of Section 28, Scotland led the way. He just wants us to carry on doing it.