Big Pride in LGBT milestone
History month accolade
Cllr Pete Barrett has welcomed the news Perth and Kinross has been named the top region in Scotland for promoting LGBT history month.
According to the charity Pink Saltire, Perth and Kinross topped the list of the 32 local authorities in Scotland for promoting LGBT history month throughout February.
Each council was marked on whether they flew the Pride flag, whether they ran activities in schools or youth clubs, the heritage or cultural events on offer, council staff awareness training, and the number of social media posts by the local authority.
Perth and Kinross Council was the only one to tick all five points.
Cllr Peter Barret, convener for housing and communities at Perth and Kinross Council, said: “Raising the rainbow flag outside the council’s headquarters marks our commitment to promoting equality and diversity, valuing everyone and improving public services in Perth and Kinross.
“Making equality and diversity an integral part of the way Perth and Kinross Council works and our promotion and support of LGBT history month is one way we are achieving this. Our vision is of a Perth and Kinross where people are able to participate in their local community free from discrimination.”
A number of events were held during February to mark LGBT history month, including a Pink Heritage Day LGBT history display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery, and a LGBT heritage display in the Civic Hall, which also hosted an eqauli-tea coffee evening.
Big Dog Books in the city centre hosted a “gay for play” gaming session, and Saints in the Community staged a football v homophobia night at McDiarmid Park.
A range of LGBT films were also screened at both AK Bell Library and Perth Playhouse, including “Britain on
Our hope is councils will continue to build on this really positive work which helps change attitudes
Film: LGBT in Britain”, “Our Home, Our Identity”, “Pride”, and “The Imitation Game”.
And residents across the region were encouraged to wear purple to work or school on Friday, February 23 to raise awareness.
Pink Saltire released the results online and said: “The Perthshire authority flew the flag from their council headquarters for the entire month of February, with daily social media posts, LGBT-themed lesson plans for many of the region’s high schools as well as training and awareness sessions from Stonewall for staff.”
Stuart Duffy, founder of Pink Saltire, said: “Our charity was established in 2014 with the aim of improving representation of LGBT people from smaller and more rural communities, so we are very pleased to see a range of work happening in Perth and Kinross and want to recognise the local authority and others around Scotland, for the work they do and the improvements being made.
“Our hope is that councils will continue to build on this really positive work which helps change attitudes and tackles discrimination in local communities.”
This comes as the newly-formed Perthshire Pride hope to stage the Fair City’s first ever Pride festival later this summer. To get involved in Perthshire Pride 2018, contact the group’s cochair Claire Mackenzie on claire@ perthshirepride.com