- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✔ Legal
- Censorship
- ✔ No censorship
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Legal, but requires medical diagnosis
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✖ Legal, but banned for minors
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✖ Not legally recognized
- Discrimination
- Unknown
- Employment Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Housing Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Adoption
- ✔ Legal
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Parental approval required
- Military
- ✔ Legal
- Donating Blood
- ✔ Legal
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- ✔ Equal
Public Opinion
Recent studies in Scotland show a discernible level of opposition to LGBTQ+ rights among the population.
Perception of LGBTQ+ People
Survey results from 7 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Scotland.
Overall
Perceived Safety**Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.
Equal Treatment
Visibility & Representation
Culture
Services
History
Same-sex marriage in Scotland is legal.
Establishes belief ceremonies, such as humanist ceremonies as a "third form of marriage", alongside religious and civil events.
Allowing transgender people to stay married, rather than having to get divorced, when obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Amended guidance on the teaching of the issue in schools.
The first same-sex marriages were allowed to take place December 16, 2014.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Scotland is no censorship.
Right to change legal gender in Scotland is legal, but requires medical diagnosis.
1. Must be 18 years of age
2. Must have a gender-dysphoria diagnosis
3. Must intend "to continue to live in the acquired gender until death"
4. Has lived in the acquired gender for at least 2 years.
5. If married: must acquire the consent of the spouse.
Eligibility is determined by a Gender Recognition Panel and if approved then one is granted a gender recognition certificate and may change the gender marker on legal documents.
Gender-affirming care in Scotland is legal, but banned for minors.
This measure originally was meant to last from June 3rd until September 3rd, but was extended twice and is now indefinite. It extends to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well (The Sinn Fein gov agreed to follow it and medicines powers are reserved to the UK)
UK Government has put an emergency order up for puberty blockers, this bans HRT and puberty blockers for those under 18. This was effective dated 29/05/2024. This is effective June 3rd until Sept 3rd for 2024, Scotland and Wales have done the same earlier in the year.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Scotland is not legally recognized.
In 2021, the UK government said (in response to a petition) that legal recognition of non-binary gender identity would have "complex practical consequences for other areas of the law, service provision and public life", and said that they felt existing legislation allowing people to change their legal gender went far enough. Courts have, however, ruled that people with non-binary identities are protected from discrimination by the Equality Act.
On 4 October 2023, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asserted his stance on gender identity in a speech at the Conservative Party conference, stating it was “common sense” that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.
In January 2024, the High Court in London ruled that (in the case of a US citizen trying to have their non-binary identity recognised in the UK), "We have decided that whenever the Gender Recognition Act refers to ‘gender’ it refers to a binary concept – that is, to male, or to female gender. The GRP [Gender Recognition Panel] accordingly, had and has no power to issue a gender recognition certificate to the claimant which says that they are ‘non-binary’".
The act applied to the entire UK, and Scotland's attempts to recognise non-binary genders have all failed.
LGBT discrimination in Scotland is unknown.
The Act simplifies, strengthens and harmonises the current legislation to provide Britain with a new discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.
Also covering LGBT discrimination would be the Human Rights Act, which is a fundamental piece of the legislation underpinning the Scottish Parliament. In 2024, Scotland revised its hate crime law to explicitly include gender identity and sexual orientation.
LGBT employment discrimination in Scotland is sexual orientation and gender identity.
LGBT housing discrimination in Scotland is sexual orientation and gender identity.
Same-sex adoption in Scotland is legal.
Intersex infant surgery in Scotland is parental approval required.
Serving openly in military in Scotland is legal.
Conversion therapy in Scotland is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Scotland is equal.