EQUALITY NETWORK - Your Scotland

The Equality Network has published three manifestos for LGBT equality at the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

You can find our current manifesto, for 2007-11, here. There is also a pdf version.

The Manifesto Meter measures how far the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government have so far achieved the targets we set in our 2003 manifesto. Each manifesto item is listed below with a coloured blob: green means achieved; amber means there has been significant progress; while red means there has been little progress so far. You can click on 'more' for details of each.

The Manifesto Meter was last updated on 7th October 2009.

The thermometer at the top left of this page shows the level of progress so far on the whole manifesto, which we currently rate as 64% achieved.

Also available is our earlier 1999 manifesto, together with an annotated version showing the progress made against that earlier version.

15/06/2005
Fair treatment for transsexual people
As required by the ECHR the Scottish Parliament should legislate to allow transsexual people to re-register their legal sex in line with their true gender for all legal purposes including the right to marry in their true gender. The legislation should provide a strong right to privacy for gender re-registration. more

14/06/2005
Fair treatment for same-sex couples: civil partnership
The Scottish Parliament should legislate to introduce civil partnership allowing couples to register their committed long-term relationship with the state. The legal effects of civil partnership should be the same as the secular legal effects of marriage. more

13/06/2005
Fair treatment for same-sex couples: cohabitation
As required by the European Convention on Human Rights, the Scottish Parliament should complete the task of extending the legislation on cohabitation so that the protections provided cover same-sex couples on the same basis as mixed-sex unmarried couples. more

12/06/2005
Fair treatment for children and parents
The Scottish Parliament should legislate to enable unmarried mixed-sex, and same-sex couples to apply jointly for consideration by an adoption panel as adoptive parents. The legislation should also allow the mixed-sex or same-sex partner of a parent to apply to adopt the parent’s child (subject to the agreement of the child’s other parent if there is one). more

11/06/2005
Fair treatment under the criminal law
The Scottish Parliament should legislate to remove the remaining discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation from sex offences law. more

10/06/2005
Leadership against prejudice: Parliament and Executive
The Parliament and Executive should make clear public and top-level commitments of support for equality for all and of condemnation of all forms of prejudice including explicit condemnation of prejudice against LGBT people. more

09/06/2005
Leadership against prejudice: public campaign
A national programme of public awareness-raising is needed, to reinforce the message that discrimination against LGBT people is unacceptable in 21st century Scotland, to address ignorance, and to counter the isolation from society felt by LGBT people. more

08/06/2005
Leadership against prejudice: hate crime
Improvements are needed to the legislative and national policy framework for dealing with harassment and offences aggravated by prejudice against LGBT people in public places, in schools, and in and around homes. more

07/06/2005
Leadership against prejudice: young people
National policy should ensure that schools adopt inclusive and supportive diversity and anti-bullying strategies and that there are accessible support services outwith school for young LGBT people across Scotland. more

06/06/2005
Equality for all across Scotland: duties to encourage equality
Statutory duties to encourage equal opportunities should be extended to all bodies providing public services in Scotland. Audit and inspection of the work of public bodies should assess the extent to which equality for all is being mainstreamed. Public funding should be used as a lever for promoting equality and fairness by requiring recipients of funding to mainstream equality. Recipients should be encouraged to identify and allocate appropriate resources for equality mainstreaming. more

05/06/2005
Equality for all across Scotland: developing inclusive mainstreaming practice
The Parliament and Executive should support a programme of development of equality practice and of mainstreaming methods which cover equality for all, including the specific needs of LGBT people. Mechanisms are also needed for sharing good equality practice across Scotland. more

04/06/2005
Equality for all across Scotland: research
More research is needed into the situation of the diverse LGBT communities across Scotland, including those facing multiple discrimination, living in rural areas, or in poverty. more

03/06/2005
Equality for all across Scotland: review of LGBT voluntary sector funding
A national strategic review of funding of the LGBT voluntary sector should be undertaken against the background of the need to build capacity within the sector across Scotland. more

02/06/2005
Equality for all across Scotland: new equality laws and institutions
The Scottish Parliament and Executive should ensure that the voice of Scotland’s communities is heard in the development of the new reserved equality laws and institutions, so that these will appropriately promote and protect equality for all in Scotland, both in reserved matters and by working in partnership with the Scottish Parliament and Executive, across the full range of devolved powers. more