The Scottish Youth Parliament’s Love Equally campaign today received a boost with the release of an opinion poll conducted last week, which shows record public support for Equal Marriage. This comes on the back of Love Equally winning Campaign of the Year at the Scottish Charity awards on Thursday 15th June.
The Scottish Youth Parliament are now calling on the Scottish Government to announce whether they will be legislating on Equal Marriage.
The opinion poll which was commissioned by the Scottish Youth Parliament, the Equality Network and LGBT Youth Scotland, and was conducted by Ipsos-Mori from 12th-14th June 2012, asked 1003 people within Scotland:
‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?’
‘Same-sex couples should have the right to get married’; 64% agreed with the statement: with 33% being strongly in favour.
‘Religious organisations should have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to conduct same-sex marriages”; 68% agreed with the statement: with 30% strongly in favour.
The poll clearly shows younger voters are significantly in favour of Equal Marriage. 18-24 year-olds are 78% in favour of same-sex marriage, and 74% in favour of religious organisations having the option to conduct same-sex marriages.
Grant Costello MSYP, Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, says:“It’s clear the overwhelming majority of Scots are following the lead of Scotland’s young people in declaring their support for Equal Marriage. Every time you ask them, from consultation to conversation to opinion poll, Scotland’s young people have clearly declared marriage should be about whom you love, not the gender of your partner. It’s clear the majority of Scots now agree.
“It’s time for Scotland’s Government to take action on the demands for a more equal society. A majority of Scots want Equal Marriage. A majority of MSPs want Equal Marriage. There can be no excuses and no delays from Scotland’s Government. It’s time to act – to create the fairer, more tolerant, more equal society Scotland’s young people demand and deserve.”
Tom French, Policy Coordinator for the Equality Network, said;
“Scotland has spoken and the message is clear; there is now overwhelming support for equal marriage across the country and in the Scottish Parliament. This record level of support gives the Scottish Government the green light they need to announce legislation that will give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people full marriage equality, both civil and religious.”
Mhairi McMillan, Head of Policy and Mainstreaming, LGBT Youth Scotland, added;
“The majority of Scottish people want marriage equality, the majority of MSP’s want marriage equality, the time for change is now. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people deserve the exact same rights as any other person in Scotland and LGBT young people want this unequal, segregated system to end now. The right to marry the person you love is a fundamental right, today’s poll shows Scotland agrees. It’s now up to the Scottish government to make this a legal right for all Scotland’s people.”
