Council flies flag for Pride month
The rainbow flag has been raised over North Lanarkshire’s headquarters to mark Pride month.
Council leader Jordan Linden was joined for the ceremony by Wishaw resident Garry King, winner of the Pride Glasgow drag race TikTok competition, and members of the Pride Not Prejudice group at Airdrie Academy.
The event reflects the local authority’s commitment to equality and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.
Councillor Linden said: “It’s a real privilege to raise the Pride flag at the Civic Centre.
“We want to make North Lanarkshire the best place to live and key to that aim is having an inclusive, tolerant and open community for all.
“We want t o create an environment where everyone can be who they want to be and I’m very proud to be celebrating this by raising the Pride flag.”
Airdrie Academy was awarded gold charter status by LGBT Youth Scotland earlier this year, becoming the first school in North Lanarkshire and only the seventh state school in Scotland to achieve the award.
The charter award “sends out a positive message that [the school] is a champion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion, where staff and learners will be safe, supported and included”.
It follows the school first having begun to work with LGBT Youth Scotland in September 2017 and earning bronze and then silver status over the next two years.
The school’s Pride Not Prejudice group was started after pupils highlighted that more support was required for their growing LGBT+ community.
It is open to all and led by sixth-year ambassadors “who are extremely passionate about LGBT+ rights”, with the group organising assemblies and special events including taking part in Purple Friday plus meeting weekly to discuss issues.
Staff, pupils and parents have also worked together to create an equalities and diversity policy, while gaining the gold award also recognised work including running in-service awareness training for staff and assessing different areas including visibility and inclusion.
Teacher Stephanie Masterson, LGBT champion, said: “Pupil voice is a powerful thing and is what kickstarted our LGBT charter journey; the initial aim was to create a safe space for young people.
“The school has become a more visibly inclusive environment – as you first enter the building you see the signed Rainbow and Trans flags.
“It’s a reminder to all pupils and a clear symbol to visitors that everyone should feel included and confident to be themselves. Improving LGBT education for all also features in the school improvement plan.”
Head teacher Martin Anderson agreed: “Our journey to LGBT gold has been inspired by the voices of our pupils, who shared with me that they wanted to give more support to their friends who were part of the LGBT community.
“The award is testimony to the school putting our values into action and making a positive change in the lives of the young people that we’re proud to serve – we want our school community to be welcoming, inclusive, to celebrate diversity and to support everyone to feel valued and respected.
“Achieving the gold LGBT schools charter makes a bold statement that diversity and equality are at the heart of our ethos and that everyone is accepted here; we stand together to show that friends, families, colleagues, neighbours, pupils and anyone we know directly or indirectly in the LGBT community matter to us.”