Scotland’s strides in LGBTQ+ rights remain “fragile,” according to former Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who has revealed she still checks her surroundings “every single time” before holding her wife’s hand in public.
Dugdale, now associate director at Glasgow University’s Centre for Public Policy, tied the knot with SNP Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth in 2022. Reflecting on the journey toward equality, she penned an article in the Scottish Sun On Sunday, marking the 10th anniversary of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act.
“It’s been 10 years since the Scottish Parliament followed Westminster in allowing same-sex couples to marry, and I’m one of over 10,000 Scots who have exercised that right,” she wrote.
Despite hailing the “incredible” progress of the last 25 years, Dugdale cautioned that such advancements remain precarious. “The change allowing same-sex couples to marry showed that gay people are not something different, something other, something less,” she stated. “But progress is fragile. Ask yourself if you’ve ever paused to check your surroundings before holding your partner’s hand on a night out. I still do – every single time.”
Dugdale described the equal marriage legislation as a “real milestone in Scotland’s recent history” that highlighted societal progress. However, she admitted that she was not publicly out when she cast her vote in favour of the law in 2014.
“To my shame, I wasn’t out at the time because I didn’t think I could be,” she confessed. “I thought there would be a professional price to pay for being open about who I loved.”
Her decision was shaped by the social context of her youth, particularly during the Aids crisis and its accompanying vilification of gay people. “Growing up, the Aids crisis dominated the TV, and gay people were vilified,” she recalled. Now, she notes significant cultural shifts, with “gay characters in soap operas” and “schools running LGBT clubs that support and encourage kids to be who they are.”
Dugdale credited legislative action, such as the Equal Marriage Act, for catalysing these changes, emphasising that progress is deliberate and hard-won. “It’s light years of progress,” she said, “but it doesn’t happen by accident.”
