Groups

Writing on Mosaic Scotland, Toni Giugliano says that and independent Scotland can be a world leader in fairness and equality if given the opportunity to fully control her own affairs.

Toni believes that a Yes vote in 2014 will give Scotland that opportunity.

This year’s Pride season may be coming to an end, with Glasgow Pride taking place this weekend (July 14), but there has never been a better time to be a member of the LGBT community in Scotland. There is still progress to be made, and Pride is a great opportunity to engage with the community at large but with battles such as Section 28 behind us and increasing support for marriage equality among both MSPs and Scottish society, being gay in Scotland is something to be proud of.

Following on from Stewart MacDonald's wonderful prelude to Pride, I thought I'd follow it up with an update of how we got on taking the Yes Scotland message to Pride Scotia in Edinburgh.

Yes Scotland's LGBT supporters were sharing the "Yes" message in colourful fashion at Pride Scotia in Edinburgh this weekend.

Alan Cumming has today welcomed the launch of the new LGBT group on Yesscotland.net where supporters of an independent Scotland can share the Yes message and organise campaign activities. Speaking about the launch, which comes ahead of Scotland's first Pride event of 2012 in Edinburgh tomorrow, the actor said it is "vitally important that the voices of LGBT people are heard in the run up to the referendum".

Pride season is a truly international event. People from all over the world celebrating the huge advances made over many years to gain equality and civil rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people across the globe. Here in Scotland, Pride season starts in Edinburgh and then moves on to Glasgow and supporters of the Yes Campaign will be at both making the case to those at Pride that Scotland should be independent.

I'll be proud for a few reasons this weekend!  Proud to represent the Yes campaign at Pride, proud of the progress my country is making towards equality and proud of the country we're going to be.  I'll also be glad to see so many friends from across Scotland, and look forward to the festivities!

Ahead of Pride Scotia on Saturday (30 June), Yes Scotland has launched Yes LGBT.  This new group is a place for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community to speak out in favour of an independent Scotland.