Policy Project: Marriage by any other name…?

Do we need marriage?

Civil partnership provides almost identical legal rights to marriage: a “separate but equal” institution for same-sex couples.

In the past decade, the legal situation of LGBT people in Scotland has changed hugely. In 2008 we asked what people thought of the new laws for LGBT equality. Were further changes needed? A majority said yes, in two areas of the law: gender recognition and civil partnership.

Enforced divorce

People wanted an end to the rule that forces transgender people to divorce before they can get gender recognition. The reason for the rule is that granting gender recognition (legal change of sex) to someone who is married would create a same-sex marriage. And the Government refuses to allow same-sex marriages.

And so transgender people and their spouses are forced either to end their marriage, or to forego their human right to legal recognition of their true gender.

Sexual orientation segregation

Many people replying to our 2008 survey also wanted an end to the rule that marriage is only for mixed-sex couples, and civil partnership is only for same-sex couples.

Although civil partnership and marriage have almost identical legal effects, many people felt that this segregation by gender is, by its very nature, discriminatory.

So at the end of 2009 we conducted a more detailed survey. How big a problem do people think this is?

This was our most popular survey ever, with 430 replies from LGBT people, three quarters of them living in Scotland. You can see the headline results in the box.

Marriage Survey Results

Marriage and civil partnership have almost identical legal effects. But they have different names, and are legally a different status. Another difference is that marriage can be legally registered either in a civil ceremony done by a registrar, or in a ceremony done by a religious or humanist leader. Civil partnership can only be registered in a civil ceremony done by a registrar.

Thinking about this, which of the following do you most agree with?

• the current system is fine : 6% 
• the current system would be fine if a civil partnership could be registered in a ceremony done by a religious or humanist leader : 8% 
• marriage should be available to all couples (same-sex and mixed-sex), and civil partnership will not then be needed at all : 31% 
• marriage and civil partnership should both be available for all couples (same-sex and mixed-sex) to choose between : 54%

How important do you think it is for the Equality Network to work for a change in the law to allow same-sex marriage?

• it’s a high priority : 54%
• it’s a medium priority : 31%
• it’s a low priority : 11%
• it doesn’t matter at all : 4%

We asked people why they replied as they did. Some said that civil partnership was right for them – they did not want to marry. But the need for complete equality and maximum freedom of choice was mentioned over and over again.

When the government brought in the civil partnership scheme I was supportive and I thought it was a very positive step in the right direction. However, I think it cannot be seen as the end of the process of providing equality. Full marriage equality is the ultimate goal and it is gathering momentum globally.  I also think that the word 'marriage' carries one hell of a lot of social esteem.”

“If a married person changes sex, they have to end their marriage and enter into a civil partnership. This is daft!”

“Different choices should be available to different needs. Some same-sex couples want marriage; some mixed-sex couples want civil partnership.”

“I think people should be able to choose between civic and religious ceremonies and I think all couples should have equal status in the eyes of the law.”

What did civil partners think?

97 people who replied to our 2009 survey were in a civil partnership. 60% of those said that they had not always been given the same rights and respect that a married couple would get. Many said that some people described or treated their relationship as something less than marriage.

“The prevailing culture is so focused on (straight) marriage, that anything 'less' than that isn't taken as seriously.”

“People refer to us as 'not really married' and we had problems with people understanding at the bank when we got a joint account.”

“Civil partnership just seems like something for people who are not allowed to get married because their relationship is still not considered quite on a par with a heterosexual one.”

57% of civil partners said that if same-sex marriage was available, they would consider converting their civil partnership to a marriage. 43% said they would prefer to keep their civil partnership.

It seems clear then that there is a demand for both civil partnership and marriage, and so, as many of the survey replies said, the solution is to make them both available as choices for all couples regardless of gender.

You can find out more about the Equality Network’s work on this issue, including a complete report of the 2009 survey, at www.equality-network.org/marriage

EveryoneIN Project - Conflicts in race, faith, and sex

In August 2009 EveryoneIN published our research report, the first major research that examined issues for people in Scotland from Minority Ethnic backgrounds, who are also lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). 

We didn’t want this to be just another research report that sat on a shelf without its findings being acted upon.  We were delighted, therefore, when in February 2010  we received funding from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to carry on with our work and to help reduce the inequalities and isolation experienced by people in Scotland who are LGBT and from Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Action groups in Glasgow and Dumfries

These groups will bring together faith, race and LGBT groups and help to build closer links across communities. The groups will facilitate training exchanges, discuss common issues of concern, and carry out joint actions to give out a strong message of support to ME/LGBT people. The Glasgow Action Group will be launched at Pride Glasgow in July: the Dumfries Action Group will be launched in Black History Month  (October).

“It is very important for our region that support groups work together due to the problems of isolation experienced in rural areas such as ours.  Bridging the gap between faiths, cultures and sexual orientation issues is one of the most sensitive and important areas to progress.” Sue Livermore, Dumfries & Galloway Council/Fire & Rescue

Working with others

If your organisation is looking to hold a training day on topics such as: an introduction to working with ME/LGBT people; confidence, confidentiality and interview skills; issues for LGBT asylum seekers/refugees; and exploring gender issues, contact Everyone In for further information.

Current Research

Everyone In is researching the particular situation of LGBT asylum seekers/refugees in Scotland, as well as research on issues for Scotland’s LGBT gypsy/traveller population.

Partnership Work

This work is being delivered jointly between Equality Network and BEMIS (Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure in Scotland), by EveryoneIN's  two project development workers, Tim Cowen and Sam Rankin. To find out more about our work or to get in touch with us, e-mail:

Tim Cowen timc@equality-network.org

Sam Rankin sam@equality-network.org

How can I help?

Are you interested in promoting equality for LGBT people from a minority ethnic background? You don’t have to be from a minority ethnic background, identify as LGBT or have any previous activism experience. You just need to want to make a change!

Everyone can support a truly inclusive approach to equality work by talking to public bodies and other services about the need to look at multiple discrimination and complex needs.

If you’re a student, support black and minority ethnic student groups and LGBT student groups to work together more.

If  you are a member of a church, a mosque, or any religious group, open the door to discussions how to best support ME/LGBT people in your faith community in ways sensitive to your cultural and religious beliefs.

If you work in the voluntary sector, develop contacts with other organisations in different equality sectors, display their resources if you can, and promote the development of inclusive policies and practices within your organisation.

If you work in the public sector, you can highlight the need to look at multiple discrimination and complex needs in your policies and practices: point out that all equality strands intersect.

If you are yourself LGBT and of a minority ethnic background, you can tell organisations and groups about what it is like for you to access services and what they can do to make like easier for you and other ME/LGBT people. You don’t need to out yourself to do this: feedback and consultation can usually be anonymous.

What can EveryoneIN do to help you?

EveryoneIN offers one-to-one mentoring and support. We will meet with you at a time and place best for you to talk about what you want to do and how we can best help you do that. We will also link you in with existing networks and organisations that are already working on equality for ME/LGBT people in Scotland. We can also support you to attend meetings or meet with the people that you want to work with to make real changes.

Information Project - Four Decades of Change

1969 - Scottish Minorities Group (SMG) founded: Scotland's first gay rights group.

1970 - The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) comes to Scotland.

1971 - Aberdeen SMG is founded.

1974 - World's first International Gay Rights Conference is held in Edinburgh University:  a spontaneous protest march from the university to the BBC offices in Queen Street via the original Scotsman is Scotland's first Pride march: Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard is launched: the Edinburgh LGBT Centre at 58a/60 Broughton Street is founded.

1977 - First Glasgow LGBT Centre founded.

1978 - SMG renames itself Scottish Homosexual Rights Group (SHRG)

1981 - The Criminal Justice Act decriminalises sex between men in Scotland, 14 years later than in England/Wales.

1982 - SMG News transforms itself into Gay Scotland: Scotland's first LGBT bookshop Lavender Menace opens in a basement in Forth Street.

1983 - Scottish AIDS Monitor (SAM) is founded.

1983 - The first Scottish Transvestite/Transsexual Group is founded.

1984 - The pathbreaking Edinburgh Bisexual Group is founded.

1985 - Scotland's second Pride event is held in Edinburgh, with no march but a display of banners on the Mound.

1988 - The Scottish Homosexual Action Group (SHAG) is founded in Edinburgh to campaign against “Clause 28”.

1988 - The Local Government Act becomes law, with the infamous Section 28 which banned “promotion of homosexuality”.

1989 - Stonewall Youth Project founded: later to become LGBT Youth Scotland.

1990 - The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act requires licensed fertility clinics to consider a child's “need for a father” when deciding if to provide fertility treatment

1994 - Decriminalisation of sex between men reduced from 21 to 18.

1995 - Scotland's first formally organised Pride March in Edinburgh

1995 - Second  Glasgow LGBT Centre opens: Scots Makar Edwin Morgan writes the Centre a celebratory poem

1996 - Glasgow's first Pride March

1996 - The Fostering of Children (Scotland) Regulations make it unlawful for a local authority to place a child in foster care with a same-sex couple.

1997 - A discriminatory clause proposed for the Sex Offenders Act leads to the foundation of the Equality Network.

1998 - Decriminalisation of sex between men reduced to 16.

1998 - Scotland Bill amended to add sexual orientation to the Scottish Parliament's definition of equal opportunities, and to give the Parliament the power to legislate to encourage equal opportunities.

1999 - The Bank of Scotland’s plans for a financial partnership with the homophobic US televangelist Pat Robertson are defeated.

1999 - The European Court of Human Rights rules that the ban on homosexuals serving in the military is unlawful.

2000 - The Scottish Parliament passes Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Act, which repeals Section 28.

2001 - Age of consent equalised for all regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

2001 - Beyond Barriers founded: a 3-year project to promote LGBT equality and diversity across Scotland.

2001 - First Aberdeen Pride held.

2003 - The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation.

2003 - First legal recognition in Scotland of a same-sex couple and their children as a family: two lesbian mothers get parental rights and responsibilities for each other's child.

2004 - The Gender Recognition Act gives transgender people the right to full legal recognition, including a changed birth certificate.

2005 - The Civil Partnership Act becomes law: the first same-sex couples in Scotland register on 20th December.

2006 The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 gives same-sex bidie-ins he same legal rights as mixed-sex bidie-ins with the exception of adoption, fostering, and parental rights following fertility treatment.

2006 - Dumfries and Galloway’s first LGBT Centre founded.

2007 - Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in provision of goods, facilities, and services in the UK.

2007 - Scottish Transgender Alliance founded: to address issues of prejudice and the lack of information and support for transgender people in Scotland. This is the first time a transgender rights project has been funded by any central government in Europe.

2008 - Dumfries and Galloway's first LGBT Pride held.

2008 - Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations extend protection from discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment by banning direct discrimination and harassment by most providers of goods, facilities and services in the UK.

2009 - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 becomes law: a child conceived in a same-sex relationship after April 2009 can be born with two mothers.

2009 - The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 becomes law: the fostering regulations from 1996 are repealed, and same-sex couples have the same right to be assessed as adoptive parents as mixed-sex couples do.

2010 - The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act becomes law, recognising homophobic hate crime in Scotland and recognising transphobic hate crime for the first time in the UK.

What shall we get done in the next forty years?

Community Development - Speaking Out in the Highlands and Islands

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans people living in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland can face particular and complex barriers in accessing public or voluntary sector services, or in participating in local authority decision making and planning processes. There are few openly-available LGBT events or social networks.

It is widely acknowledged that there are gaps in research evidencing the needs of LGBT people, especially in Scotland. However, almost every major Scottish LGBT research report published in the past ten years has highlighted the need for, and recommended specific work in areas outside Edinburgh and Glasgow, and beyond the Central Belt. This includes the  First Out survey carried out by Beyond Barriers in 2003, the Scottish Government’s report on Challenging Prejudice: Changing Attitudes Towards LGBT People in Scotland in 2008, the Community Sector Survey and the Everyone In research carried out by the Equality Network in 2009, and City Lights, on LGBT migration from rural areas to cities, carried out by Stonewall Scotland in 2009.

In the Equality Network’s 2007 survey (Voices from outside the belt) for LGBT people in rural areas, two-thirds of respondents from rural communities said they felt isolated because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and just under half said that they had problems accessing services. Over two-thirds of respondents said that they regularly travelled outside their community to access LGBT services, while an overwhelming majority said they would like to see more events or resources for LGBT people in their area.

Over the last few months the Equality Network has been working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to set up new LGBT groups and to bridge the gap between local services and public bodies and the LGBT community.

The first phase of Speak Out Highlands and Islands was a residential training course in Inverness for LGBT people from across the region, to grow skills in the areas of engagement and representation and build on each other’s knowledge about setting up and running successful LGBT groups in rural areas.

The second phase saw community meetings held in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Wick, Elgin, Fort William and Stornoway, attended by over 60 people, eager to create new networks and groups for LGBT people in their area.

Over the coming months the Equality Network will be working to ensure the development of new groups and supporting LGBT people across the highlands and islands to ensure the delivery of better public services and networks for LGBT people.

If you live in the Highlands and Islands region and you are interested in getting involved with LGBT groups in your area contact Scott Cuthbertson.

Can we help you?

If you are part of an LGBT group and would like the Equality Network to develop and facilitate training specifically around your group and its needs please contact us. Training can be part of an event you are running or can be about strategic planning or fundraising. All training is free and provided as part of the National LGBT Skills Programme.

The Equality Network can also provide training for public bodies and service providers.

If you are interested in any of the training provided by the Equality Network or would like to know more please contact Scott Cuthbertson.

Scottish Transgender Alliance - ‘…and Others!’

The first ever Transgender European Learning Partnership Project is raising awareness of trans equality and human rights

“Dear Ladies, Gentlemen... and Others!” This greeting launched the Second European Transgender Council back in May 2008, with the theme “Making Human Rights Work”. Six Scottish Transgender Alliance activists were among more than 200 trans activists gathered in Berlin for the Council. Acutely aware of the importance of increasing positive trans visibility and sharing activist knowledge, the event became the start point for developing the first ever Transgender European Learning Partnership Project. The five partners are:

• Scottish Transgender Alliance (STA)

• TransInterQueer Berlin (TrIQ)

• Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI)

• Transgender Network Netherlands (TNN)

• Transgender Europe (TGEU).

The ‘…And Others!’ Transgender European Learning Partnership Project is funded by the European Commission from August 2009 until July 2011. During a series of exchange visits we are creating a transgender rights toolkit to share knowledge across Europe about how to lobby for improvements in trans equality.

We have also together developed a large audio-visual photographic exhibition of transgender portraits called ‘Serious Game’ which is currently being toured around Europe with accompanying awareness-raising posters and postcards. So far, the audio-visual exhibition has been displayed in Malta, in Ireland and also in France at the Council of Europe. Throughout the next twelve months, the exhibition will continue its journey around Europe. The Scottish Transgender Alliance is currently seeking a suitable Scottish venue for the exhibition.

Over the last weekend of February, the leading trans activists from Ireland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands were hosted by Scottish Transgender Alliance staff and volunteers for the first exchange visit. Despite volcanic ash flight restrictions causing unexpected problems during the planning of the second exchange visit to Dublin in April, we eventually managed to get the STA staff over to Ireland.

The most exciting part of the project is now coming up!

There are some fabulous opportunities for transgender volunteers to travel abroad as part of the ‘…And Others!’ European Learning Partnership Project:

• Four funded places are available for Scottish Transgender Alliance volunteers to attend the Third European Transgender Council from 30 Sept 2010 to 3 Oct 2010 in Malmo, Sweden.

• Six funded places are available for Scottish Transgender Alliance volunteers to attend the exchange event hosted by the Transgender Network Netherlands in Amsterdam in early February 2011.

To apply for one of these trips, just complete the online application form at www.scottishtrans.org/page/travel.aspx or phone the Equality Network office on 07020 933 952 to request a paper application form to be sent to you. The application deadline is 16 August 2010.

Public Services and Trans Equality

New guidance for public bodies on their provision of goods, facilities and services to trans people was published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in February 2010. The guidance was written for the EHRC by Press For Change and the Scottish Transgender Alliance.

At the same time, the Scottish Transgender Alliance was also commissioned by the EHRC to gather good practice case studies and to investigate how public bodies in Scotland, England and Wales are meeting their public sector duties in relation to trans people. Our report of our findings was originally intended just for internal EHRC use in developing its trans equality guidance. However, a wide variety of transgender groups and public bodies expressed interest in the findings so we are delighted that our report has now been published by the EHRC.

Both the report of our findings and the guidance for public bodies can be downloaded via: www.scottishtrans.org/page/ehrc.aspx