Friendly Scotland

From the BBC:

"Scotland rated most 'gay friendly' country in Europe"

This country would be rated as the most gay friendly and tolerant nation in Europe if it were separate from the rest of the United Kingdom, new research has found. A survey measuring equality and human rights found that Scotland would top a European league table after meeting 90% of the 52 criteria looked at by the advocacy group International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association-Europe, better known as ILGA-Europe. The Rainbow Index, compiled each year, placed the entire United Kingdom in third place at 81% behind Malta at 88% and Belgium at 82%, mostly because of Northern Ireland's refusal to adopt same-sex marriage laws. In the single digits were Azerbaijan at 5%, Armenia and Russia at 7% and Turkey at 9%. Malta made it to the top after scoring 77% in 2015 when it enacted a number of laws favorable to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people in the past year. The United Kingdom as a whole was in first place last year with an 86% rating, and Belgium was at 83%.  However, the report also found that more needed to be done in Scotland to achieve full equality, such as better legislation to protect the rights of intersex people, those born with reproductive organs and anatomy that may be a combination of male and female. The index measures the impact of laws and policies on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in six categories: equality and non-discrimination, family, bias-motivated speech or violence, legal gender recognition, freedom of assembly, association and expression, and asylum.  In 2010, a number of anti-discrimination laws were brought into force to protect the rights of LGBT people in Scotland, and same-sex marriage was legalized in 2014. Scotland was judged to have a slightly better law and policy on intersex equality than the rest of the United Kingdom, and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt children and stepchildren. Following last week’s election, the Scottish Parliament now has the highest level of openly lesbian, gay and bisexual members, 7.8%, in the world. Ten of the 129 members of the Scottish Parliament are openly lesbian, gay or bisexual, compared to the Netherlands, the second highest where 7.3% of members openly lesbian, gay or bisexual. Two of the main party leaders, Conservative Ruth Davidson and Labour's Kezia Dugdale, are openly gay while the Green Party's Patrick Harvie is bisexual. David Coburn, Scotland's U.K. Independence Party member of the European Parliament, is open about his homosexuality. David Mundell, Scotland's only Conservative member of Parliament in London, also recently came out as gay. Rights are actively being eroded for LGBTI people in countries at the bottom of the ranking. Evelyne Paradis, executive director of ILGA-Europe, said these rights are a very mixed picture on the continent with some governments that were leading the way toward equality a few years ago now slowing their work. “The countries who are on this upward curve tend to be the ones who have protected people from discrimination on grounds of gender identity or legislated to protect the bodily integrity of intersex people and who have ingrained this change in every-day measures such as equality action plans,” she said.

^ I had never heard of this "Rainbow Index" before. They have a website that has an interactive map of Europe that shows which countries are "gay" friendly and which aren't.  The link to that site is: https://rainbow-europe.org/ ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/05/11/gay-friendly-scotland/84249838/