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Content Warning: The section below on the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto includes mention of sexual assault.
The Scottish Parliament election is on Thursday 7th May. You can find out more about how it works on the Scottish Parliament website here.
The Scottish Parliament has devolved power, meaning that it has powers to legislate in many areas (such as health care, conversion practices, education, housing, and local government), while some other areas are reserved to the UK Parliament (such as the Equality Act and asylum procedures). You can find out more about reserved and devolved power on the Scottish Parliament website here.
People decide how to vote for all sorts of reasons, not just a party’s stance on LGBTQIA+ issues, but we thought it would be helpful to list relevant commitments and comments from the parties currently projected to win seats in the election.
While the leaders and candidates for these parties may make comments on these issues throughout the election, we’re limiting this list just to what is said in their official manifestos for the Scottish Parliament elections. You can find them all in full below:
Scottish Greens – easy read, Gaelic
We have listed relevant quotes from these parties’ manifestos below in alphabetical order by party name. We’ve included all relevant content from party manifestoes, regardless of our view on whether it would have a positive or negative impact on LGBTQIA+ people’s lives.
The manifestos include a range of approaches to LGBTQIA+ people’s rights and wellbeing in law, policy, education, public funding, and services. This include parties which wish to create new law and policy in these areas, as well as those who wish to reform or reconsider what already exists, abolish or repeal it, or take a new approach altogether. Some parties take a mix of these approaches.
The Reform UK Manifesto says:
P.7
“[Realistic/purist nationalists] are appalled at how the SNP have not protected local communities and women and girls in Scotland in preference to pursuing woke policies on immigration and gender.”
P.20
“We will abolish the SNP’s intrusive, ideologically motivated Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, restoring freedom of speech and allowing police to focus on real crime.”
P.25
“In Government, Reform UK will: Repeal SNP bad laws including Hate Crime and Land Reform”
“In Parliament, Reform UK will: […] Form a department of government efficiency to cut waste and duplication and the endless funding of lobbyist charities by taxpayers”
Content Warning: This section includes mention of sexual assault.
The Scottish Conservatives manifesto says:
P.10/11
“The Scottish Government also needs to stop the creation of unnecessary guidance and strategy documents like the Non-binary Equality Action Plan, New Scots strategies and the guidance on collecting data on gender identity and trans status, which suggested there are at least 24 genders. The Scottish Conservatives would immediately stop this nonsense.”
P.11
“[W]e would ban roles in the public sector devoted exclusively to advancing diversity, equality and inclusion. These roles do not provide value for the taxpayer and funding should go towards frontline roles in the public sector instead.”
P.13
“A substantial portion of public funding goes to charities and campaigning organisations. This may sound good, but some of these bodies are too close to the government. They appear before parliament, or in the media, backing government policy without it always being clear that there is an ulterior motive behind their actions. We would require all third-sector organisations in receipt of taxpayer funding to declare this fact on their website, social media pages and before parliamentary committees if they are giving evidence, so that the public and parliamentarians alike are aware of these potential conflicts, should an organisation make a public intervention in favour of a government programme.”
P.13/14
“We would conduct a review of charity legislation to examine whether bodies that are almost entirely supported by public funds should still be classified as charities in law. When such organisations carry out any lobbying activities, it is important that they are transparent with the public about their actions. If an organisation is lobbying a politician, that must be declared in the Scottish Parliament’s public lobbying register. However, these same rules do not apply to public sector bodies, even if they are responsible for important areas of public policy. For example, the Scottish Prison Service’s Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy was developed in tandem with Scottish Trans, a charity that has received taxpayer funding. This was the policy that resulted in the absurdity of a convicted double rapist being sent to a women’s prison.”
P.53
“If a woman requires treatment in a hospital, they must also have access to a single sex ward. There have been reports of hundreds of sexual assaults recorded in hospitals, which is unacceptable. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that sex means biological sex under the Equality Act, we would guarantee that every woman has access to single-sex wards.”
P.54
“We must also make our health service better for families more generally. We will work to expand access and provision to fertility and IVF services, ensure equality of access, and target resources at reducing waiting times for these services.”
P.65/66
“Parents have a right to raise their child as they wish and if they are uncomfortable with some of the things schools are teaching on socially contentious issues, they should be given a voice to say so. The Scottish Conservatives would establish parent panels in every local authority that would allow parents to oversee the content children are taught on socially contentious issues such as sex education or other issues of personal morality.”
P.79/80
“The SNP has spent the last five years obsessed with the issue of gender reform. They tried to pass a law that would allow 16-year-olds to legally change their gender, spent taxpayers’ money arguing in court that men can get pregnant and most seriously of all, a convicted double rapist was sent to a women’s prison because of its policies of gender self-identification. Far too much time and money has been wasted on this issue. We would reverse the damage caused by the SNP’s policies and ensure the Supreme Court’s ruling that sex means biological sex is respected. That starts by ensuring women and girls have access to single sex spaces throughout the public sector, including hospitals, schools and prisons. In particular, biological men must be removed from women’s prisons given the threat they pose to vulnerable female prisoners and prison officers. There have been horrific reports from schools across Scotland of girls being abused in mixed-sex toilets in recent years, so single-sex toilets must be in place across our schools. But we also have to stop harmful ideas being taught to our children in the first place, which is why we would scrap the Scottish Government guidance which encourages the teaching of gender ideology in schools.”
P.85
“[W]e would repeal Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act that forces officers to spend time policing people’s speech rather than fighting real crime. Crimes motivated by prejudice would be punished via statutory aggravators instead. Another waste of police time is the recording of noncrime hate incidents. As the name suggests, these incidents can be recorded against an individual for simply posting a joke that some people found offensive. We would require that Police Scotland stop recording non-crime hate incidents.”
The Scottish Green Manifesto says:
P.59
“Deliver high quality Personal and Social Education, guaranteeing a curriculum which covers topics such as consent based sex education, LGBT+ inclusivity, mental health, and personal finances, co-designed by young people.”
P.70
“Ensure the Scottish Human Rights Bill extends beyond the Rights of Children and Young People, already incorporated into Scots law. The new Bill will embed the rights of disabled people, older people, women, members of faith groups, migrants, gypsy, roma and traveller communities, and LGBT+ people under international treaties.”
P.71
“Respond to unacceptable increases in anti-Semitic and other hate crimes by reviewing the effectiveness of the Hate Crime (Scotland) Act, and the policies that support it, such as anti-racism education in schools, and police and justice practices.”
P.77
“The Scottish Greens have led the way in advancing the rights and treatment of LGBT+ people during the devolution era. But despite significant improvements, the community are still more likely to experience poor mental health and delays in access to essential healthcare, and ongoing discrimination in day to day life. Trans people are amongst the most discriminated against people in our society. With the hate campaign against them a major cause, there has been a shocking rise in hate crimes against trans people, whilst some are effectively denied access to healthcare with waiting lists of over 200 years for essential gender-affirming care. In the next Parliament the Scottish Greens will continue to be the champions of LGBT+ people as we always have, delivering the much-delayed ban on socalled conversion therapy, ensuring access to gender-affirming healthcare, and taking action on transphobic, homophobic and biphobic hate crime and bullying.”
P.78/79
“Introduce a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy covering all settings, such as religious, informal, community, family-based and therapeutic, with clear protections for affirming healthcare, and inclusive of trans, non-binary, and asexual identities. This ban will be backed by appropriate criminal and civil penalties, and a statutory right of survivors to support and advocacy.”
“Ensure and expand inclusive education and anti-bullying programmes in Scotland’s schools and youth programmes; provide targeted support to promote LGBTQ+ young people staying in education and roll out a national programme to address transphobic, homophobic and biphobic hate crime across society.”
“Introduce statutory homelessness strategies for all groups facing particular barriers to housing, including LGBT+ people.”
“Address inequalities in LGBT+ healthcare, such as improving access to specialist mental healthcare; care for intersex people, and speeding-up the rollout of injectable anti-HIV medication.”
“Publish a gender-affirming care action plan within 6 months, to turbo-charge efforts to bring down shocking waiting times. Action we will consider includes funding more training places; providing funding to health boards that do not currently provide gender identity healthcare to start doing so urgently; supporting people to seek NHS-funded care in other countries, and bringing it into line with the 18 week guarantee that applies to many other areas of healthcare, including youth pathways aligned with international standards.”
“Work with NHS boards – including Public Health Scotland – and social care providers to address LGBTQ+ health and care inequalities. This will include providing training for frontline health and social care staff to understand the needs of LGBTQ+ people, and increasing the collection of data relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and health outcomes to inform better evidence-based policies.”
“Recognise the rights of LGBT+ families to access IVF and IUI on the NHS, and develop national guidance and a standard treatment pathway specifically for LGBT+ families accessing assisted conception.”
“Revisit all NHS policy changes made as a result of the Cass Review to ensure they are aligned with international evidence-based best practice. Where there are evidence gaps about treatment options, introduce robust, accessible research trials to ensure that these are filled. We will involve trans children and young people directly in decisions about their healthcare in age-appropriate ways in-line with their evolving capacity, and immediately ensure young trans people have access to mental health and other support.”
“Ensure trans people have the same access to Hormone Replacement Therapy as cisgender people.”
“Continue to call on the UK Government to remove its block on much-needed Gender Recognition legislation and update it with international best practice.”
P.88
“Roll out emergency department opt-out HIV and blood-borne virus testing programmes in areas with a high HIV prevalence and to other health settings.”
“Deliver a national Online HIV Prevention Service that’s a one-stop-shop for at-home HIV testing and online PrEP access.”
P.104
“Deliver fair funding for the third sector, including sufficient, multi-year funding from the Scottish Government, and ensure this approach is embedded across all public sector funders.”
“Call on the UK Government to reimburse Scottish third sector organisations for the cost of increased employer NICs, which are currently estimated at £75 million per year.”
P.136
“Enable groups and third sector organisations to raise public interest and human rights cases.”
P.137
“Ensure long-term, inflation-proof funding for rape crisis centres, women’s refuges, BME-led services, LGBT+ survivor support and disabled women’s organisations, ensuring that independent legal advice, advocacy and representation are available to those who need them.”
The Scottish Labour manifesto says:
P.16
“Recommit the NHS to delivering single sex wards on the basis of biological sex, and ensuring patients can request same sex provision wherever possible.”
P.51
“Work to deliver a conversion practices ban on a four nation basis to prevent the creation of any possible loopholes across the UK and protect LGBT+ people from harmful conversion practices.”
P.52
“Delivering single-sex spaces on the basis of biological sex, in NHS wards, schools, sport and everyday life by upholding the Equality Act and delivering clear instructions to public services on how to comply with their legal obligations to women and to trans people.”
P.58
“Keeping women’s prisons for women, instructing the Scottish Prison Service to remove all biologically male prisoners from women’s prisons within days of the election.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrats manifesto says:
P.84
“Racism, transphobia and misogyny have the support of some of the most powerful people in the world.”
P.84-86
“We will: […] Champion human rights legislation and resist any attempts to weaken or repeal it.”
P.87
“Expose and confront stereotyping, demagoguery and hate speech in public life and the media that inflames hatred and leads to spikes in hate crimes.”
P.87/88
“Respect and defend the rights of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including trans and non-binary people, including:
Banning all forms of conversion therapies and practices, working in partnership with the UK Government to achieve this.
Working towards a four nations consensus on addressing the shortcomings of the gender recognition process.
Restating our commitment to inclusive education around LGBT+ issues in schools.”
The SNP manifesto says:
P.32
“The advancement of human rights in Scotland is central to our missions of eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, building better public services, and tackling the climate emergency. We will introduce the Human Rights Bill in the next parliament and incorporate a range of conventions into Scots Law. Our aim will be to build on earlier rights incorporation efforts in Scotland. However, the experience of the last parliament demonstrates how restricted Scotland is to incorporate human rights under the strictures of devolution. With independence we will move forward swiftly if we have been stymied in the interim by Westminster control.”
P.32/33
“At a time when marginalised communities are under attack, the SNP will always defend all human rights. We will seek to maximise the rights of LGBTQI+ people by ensuring equal access to, and support from, our public services – including improving access to inclusive healthcare. We are proud of Scotland’s record in advancing equality, dignity and human rights for LGBTQI+ people, and we will go further. We are committed to upholding and protecting the human rights of trans people as far as possible within our powers and we will do all we can to ensure that trans people’s identities are recognised and respected. Scotland is the first country in the world to proudly incorporate LGBTQI+ education in our schools. We believe that everyone should be able to live openly, safely and authentically, free from discrimination, prejudice or fear.”
P.33
“Conversion practices are harmful, abhorrent, and abusive actions intended to change or suppress an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. These discriminatory practices inflict severe damage on the mental health and well-being of LGBTQI+ people and have no place in Scotland. Should the UK government fail to bring forward legislation to ban conversion practices, we are committed to legislating against the harms of conversion practices and will introduce legislation within the first year of the new parliament to permanently end these practices. This will establish legal safeguards to protect people from the harm of conversion practices and ensure a response when such acts occur. Beyond the necessary legislation to prohibit conversion practices, we will implement measures to support victims and survivors, including mental health services, and promoting education and awareness.”
“Scotland’s third sector is essential to the wellbeing of our communities. From local charities supporting vulnerable families to national organisations tackling poverty and inequality, they reach people and places that government cannot reach alone. We will develop an agreement with the third sector to strengthen its voice and improve lives, which will include delivering funding on a multi-year basis to allow better planning of service provision.”
P.48
“We will commission a rapid review of IVF provision in Scotland, with a particular focus on widening access to single women, same sex couples, and couples where one partner has children from a previous relationship.”
P.50
“We will deliver on the commitment to rollout opt-out HIV testing in A&Es across Scotland, enable PrEP access at suitable locations outwith of sexual health clinics, and invest in re-engaging the growing number of people currently not participating in HIV care.”
P.58
“We will always be committed to safeguarding LGBTQI+ Inclusive Education. That’s why we are committed to protecting and continuing the national approach to LGBTQI+ Inclusive Education across all primary and secondary schools, ensuring age-appropriate integration within the curriculum and continued national professional learning for teachers.”
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Equality Network is a national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights charity.
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