Question reference: S6W-26840
- Date lodged: 15 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings and recommendations of LGBT Youth Scotland's Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People: Trans Report 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government acknowledges this report which serves as a clear message that trans young people in Scotland are experiencing difficult and tangible challenges in their day to day lives.
Trans people continue to suffer poorer outcomes relative to the wider population, and this needs to change.
The Scottish Government are providing funding of over £1.1 million to LGBTQI+ organisations in 2024-25 to enable them to take forward a range of activities to advance equality and tackle discrimination.
We are taking forward our commitment to introduce legislation to end conversion practices in Scotland and responses to the public consultation, which closed on the 2 April, will be analysed and considered to inform the Bill the Scottish Government will introduce into Parliament. We have also funded a dedicated conversion practices helpline and are continuing to develop non-legislative measures to support victims and survivors of conversion practices.
We have published a Non-Binary Equality Action Plan to improve equality and wellbeing for non-binary people, established and funded organisations dedicated to stopping LGBTI-related bullying and discrimination, and published a new Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland, which sets out a vision for a Scotland that lives free from hatred and prejudice and where our communities are empowered, inclusive and safe.
It is essential that we continue to listen to people with lived experience and continue to strive for equality and inclusion to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ people in Scotland.