{"id":79187,"date":"2017-02-23T11:39:07","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T11:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=6c6d1d2b4cb32ccb1781823a22241709"},"modified":"2017-02-23T11:39:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T11:39:07","slug":"news-story-david-mundell-celebrating-scotlands-lgbt-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=79187","title":{"rendered":"News story: David Mundell: Celebrating Scotland\u2019s LGBT Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, will tonight [23 February 2017] host leading figures in Scotland\u2019s LGBT community at an event to celebrate diversity and tackle prejudice.<\/p>\n<p>The event is being held to mark LGBT history month in Scotland, and comes the day before \u2018Purple Friday\u2019, a day for people across Scotland to show their support for the LGBT community and stand together for equality.<\/p>\n<p>The Scottish Secretary will be joined by representatives from the TIE Campaign, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland, MSPs and businesses like Barclays, Blackrock, GenAnalytics and Edrington.<\/p>\n<p>The event will also feature a performance by the Edinburgh Gay Men\u2019s Chorus and a speech from Commander Douggie Ward MBE, who will talk about his experience of being out in the Royal Navy.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Mundell said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Tonight\u2019s event is not only a celebration of Scotland\u2019s rich diversity and compassion, but proves that we stand shoulder to shoulder against ignorance, prejudice and bullying.<\/p>\n<p>Young people in Scotland deserve a society where their gender and sexuality has no limitation on their experiences or their aspirations. I am determined to ensure everyone in the Scottish LGBT community is treated with the respect and equality they deserve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This month we celebrate the history of the LGBT movement, but also its future, building a Scotland which is tolerant, inclusive and diverse.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Commander Douggie Ward MBE Royal Navy said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">From the moment that I came out as a gay man to my family, friends and colleagues in the Royal Navy, I have received nothing but whole-hearted support.<br \/>\n\u201cIt is this support that has enabled me to develop and grow both personally and professionally as a Naval Officer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Events like tonight\u2019s reception help send out a powerful message that we are all part of a wonderfully diverse society and no matter what your sexual orientation or gender identity, you are not alone and you can succeed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scotland\u2019s diverse LGBT community and equality campaigners will be celebrated at a reception in Edinburgh tonight [23 February 2017].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}