Following a year of intense debate around ‘gender recognition’, five trans young people speak to Caitlin Logan about what it really means to be trans in Scotland today

CAMERON was 14 years old when he first had the language to pinpoint why his mental health had deteriorated two years earlier as puberty came knocking: he was trans. Now, an 18-year-old computer science student, he sits in a bustling coffee shop next to a table of burly men and speaks with the good-humoured ease of any other boy his age.

Olivia McMahon (pictured above) writes about her experience of coming out as gay in the second year of secondary school, being bullied and feeling like school education was biased against her inducing anxiety, to being inspired by the TIE campaign to become an activist for LGBT-inclusive education, and what still needs to be done to change things

LGBTI sports charity seeks to address ‘thorn in our side’ of sports discrimination with fortnight of events

NOW IN its sixth year, LGBTI charity Leap Sports’ ‘Festival Fortnight’, running 1-17 June, will play host to a varied selection of events and activities across Scotland, with the aim of boosting visibility and participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Scottish sport.

CommonSpace investigates online abuse after campaign is launched blasting #ToxicTwitter for failing to protect user

RESEARCH by CommonSpace into the level and nature of abuse directed to Scots politicians online has revealed the daily reality of online campaigns of abuse which is often misogynistic, racist and homophobic. 

LGBT campaigner and co-founder of the Tie campaign Jordan Daly explains why he is backing Kezia Dugdale in her row with Wings Over Scotland about homophobia

WHEN it comes to Wings Over Scotland and his controversies, I generally try to stay detached. He’s nothing more than a man with a blog, who has gained some notoriety, a bit of a strange cult following and whose online behaviour is akin to trolling. All in all, not someone I really want to discuss.

Leigh Wilson says the world is moving backwards and progressive voices across the spectrum must find unity

FROM a historical perspective it can often appear, somewhat erroneously, that we are now living in an enlightened period of liberal sanctity. 

Relativity is nonetheless crucial to judging this, and, were it not for the seismic global events of the past two years, this claim may be more convincingly substantiated. In the context of recent tectonic changes, though, it seems as if we are regressing more than we care to admit.

Fifteen-year-old school student committed suicide after experiencing homophobic abuse

THE MOTHER of Chloe Orr, a 15-year-old school student who committed suicide after experiencing homophobic abuse, has said that education about LGBTI+ issues at school could have saved her daughter’s life.

Kelly Moorhead, 36, expressed shock at the degree of abuse her teenage daughter experienced after she came out as a lesbian at the age of 14.

LGBTI+ youth subjected to homophobia at event to discuss their experiences of bullying

FOUR teenagers have been arrested and charged after an event for LGBTI+ young people was subjected to homophobic abuse.

The four males, aged between 13 and 15, were arrested on Sunday 7 August following the incident on Thursday 4 August at Boghall Parish Church in Bathgate in West Lothian.

Flowers and candles laid in Glasgow’s George Square to remember the victims of Sunday’s nightclub shooting

HUNDREDS OF people attended a vigil in Glasgow last night to pay respects to the victims of the worst mass shooting in recent US history.

Organised by activist LGBT group Free Pride, the vigil attracted more than 600 people, laying flowers and candles on LGBT flags at the foot of the Walter Scott monument.