Plenary, 02 Feb 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Official Report 473KB pdf

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Philip Lawrence Awards 2004

The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-2178, in the name of Susan Deacon, on the Philip Lawrence awards 2004. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated.

That the Parliament congratulates the youth volunteer group at LGBT Youth Scotland for winning one of the eight 2004 community safety Philip Lawrence Awards for their contribution to the community grid and to improving the lives of others; notes that LGBT Youth Scotland was the only Scottish organisation to reach the finals of the community safety awards section; recognises the significant work done by LGBT Youth Scotland in tackling homophobia and bullying; believes that this work continues to make a crucial difference to the lives of young people in Scotland, and commends this work to all who are working to challenge prejudice in Scotland.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have this debate tonight. I thank the many members from across the political spectrum who signed the motion. I am also grateful to the members who have stayed in the chamber for the debate. I appreciate that the delays in proceedings at decision time will have an impact on attendance tonight.

I am sure that colleagues will want to join me in welcoming to the public gallery a number of visitors from LGBT Youth Scotland, including Jamie Rennie, the chief executive, and Martin Henry, the convener of its board. I want to give a particularly warm welcome to Sarah Rowlinson, who is one of the Philip Lawrence awardees. She is also a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament and was recently appointed as the vice convener of the LGBT Youth Scotland board. I am certain that the members who attended the LGBT Youth Scotland reception that I hosted in the Parliament last year will recall the exceptional speech that Sarah Rowlinson made on that occasion. I welcome and congratulate our visitors.

Tonight gives us an opportunity to celebrate success, applaud achievement and put on record our appreciation of work done. It also gives us an opportunity to face up to some of the challenges and attitudes that exist in society and to reflect on what more can be done to address them. It is right that we should endeavour to do both.

It is estimated that around 50,000 to 100,000 young people in Scotland are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Most of those young people are aware of their sexuality before they reach secondary school, yet it is estimated that around only 6 per cent have come out by the time they are 16. Indeed, a recent survey conducted by LGBT Youth Scotland found that the average wait between a young person wanting to come out to actually doing so was more than four years.

I continue to live in hope that as a society and as a Parliament we will become ever more at ease in discussing matters of sex and sexuality and how they relate to public policy. I hope that as we do so, we will acknowledge that coming to terms with sex, relationships and sexuality are major parts of everyone's life and everyone's development at every stage of the life cycle, but no more so than in those early years.

As someone who is celebrating a forty-something birthday today—

Ah!

Thank you.

I am conscious that my teenage years are quite a way behind me, but I am sure that we would all agree, from our personal experience of that stage and our experience now as parents and grandparents, that adolescence is a particularly challenging time. It is a time of one's life when the support of family, friends and many others really matters—all the more so when individuals encounter ignorance, prejudice or even verbal and physical abuse. That is one of the reasons why the work of LGBT Youth Scotland is so important and deserves to be commended, because the organisation has played a major and ever-increasing role in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people throughout Scotland.

As an organisation, LGBT Youth Scotland is a success story. Since its inception in 1989, it has grown from a group of volunteers in Edinburgh to become a major national youth organisation with a turnover of £0.5 million and 27 staff. The group has a network of support groups stretching the length and breadth of Scotland. More than 3,000 people are part of its e-network, and its website, I am reliably informed, has had 474,000 hits in just the past four months.

Alongside all the support that the organisation has given to young people, those of us who have seen its work at close quarters cannot fail to be impressed by how effective it has been at working with agencies—the police, education authorities and the health service, to name but a few—local authorities, Government and other policy makers to help to shape policy and practice, to raise awareness and to change attitudes. It has done so much to ensure that LGBT young people in Scotland get a voice and get support.

The organisation's most recent accolade—the Philip Lawrence award—is well deserved and is further recognition of what it has achieved. I am sure that some members will be familiar with the award scheme, but let me share just a little about it. I know that we will all remember with sadness the tragic death in December 1995 of Philip Lawrence—a man widely recognised as an inspirational head teacher in a secondary school in London, who was murdered outside the gates of his school while going to the aid of a pupil. The award scheme that has been set up in his name seeks to reward and recognise efforts that are being made to ensure that youngsters throughout the country can grow up in a safer, more secure environment. The awards recognise outstanding achievement by young people aged 11 to 20 in their local communities. The youth volunteer group of LGBT Youth Scotland was successful in winning one of the eight 2004 community safety Philip Lawrence awards for its work. It is worth noting that the organisation was the only Scottish one to reach the finals of the community safety awards.

Today is a day to congratulate the organisation and the individuals who have made the achievement possible and to celebrate success and progress. It is also important to mark and chart the progress that has been made over the years in Scotland and in the Parliament to promote equality, celebrate diversity and ensure that young people are given a voice and the best possible start in life. However, I am sure that we all agree that there is an awful lot more still to do to build a society in which tolerance and respect are the hallmark of our words and deeds and in which every young person has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. In that regard, I can end on no better words than those of Philip Lawrence, who said:

"Every child is capable of greatness".

I am pleased that we have had an opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of some of Scotland's young people in ensuring that more of Scotland's young people go on to ever-greater achievements.

I congratulate Susan Deacon on securing the debate and LGBT Youth Scotland volunteers on winning a Philip Lawrence award for community safety for the valuable contribution that they make to communities throughout Scotland. The volunteers, who often work with partners in government, the police, the national health service and other agencies, are exceptional and special young people. At a time when we hear so much about the small minority of young people who cause problems in our society and on our streets, it is great to acknowledge the crucial work that the volunteers and the staff of LGBT Youth Scotland do with young people and the wider community to educate people about the issues that affect LGBT young people in Scotland, to increase awareness and understanding and to reduce homophobia and bullying.

LGBT Youth Scotland's helpline—youthline—on Tuesday nights and its website, outreach team, events and youth council all help young Scots who are under 26 to come to terms with their sexuality, in all its richness and with all its challenges. That work is particularly useful for young people in rural parts of Scotland, who have less access to gay venues, friends and networks and who can feel particularly isolated. At any age, it is difficult for people to come to terms with being different and with the creeping realisation that they are not like the norm; that others will hate and persecute them even if they have never met them; and that they will hurt people whom they love just by being who they are. It is difficult to come to terms with that at 40; I can only imagine how difficult it is to come to terms with that as an adolescent. That is why the volunteers are particularly exceptional young people. They have gone through those experiences and then turned round and decided to help others who are going through the same difficulties in the growing and coming-out process. That is why the support that young people receive from LGBT Youth Scotland volunteers is so important.

Susan Deacon alluded to the advances that we have made. To name a few recent milestones for the gay community in Scotland, we have repealed section 2A and Westminster has equalised the age of consent and passed legislation on civil partnerships. However, while young gay people in Scotland remain among the most at-risk groups of adolescents, there is a lot more to do. The 2000 Scottish crime survey showed that young gay men were almost four times more likely to be the victim of violent crime than their straight counterparts were. A recent Stonewall study showed that 90 per cent of LGBT under-18s have experienced verbal abuse as a result of their sexuality and that 77 per cent have suffered bullying at school.

As a result of homophobia and discrimination, young people are forced to live a lie, which affects their self-esteem, confidence and health and often leads to self-harm, attempted suicide, substance abuse, mental health problems and academic underachievement. Not surprisingly, most young LGBT people decide not to come out at school, often leaving themselves isolated and unsupported. Hiding such a significant part of their identity is one of the first things that many young LGBT people learn to do—to protect not only themselves but often their families and friends. The fight for equality and against homophobia is not over. It is important that young people have somewhere to turn for help—whether it is because of bullying, unsympathetic parents, or a lack of self-esteem, or whether it is to find ways of contacting other young LGBT Scots.

Discovering that one is gay can be a highly traumatic time, but with support and growing confidence it can also be a fantastic time. LGBT Youth Scotland—through Matthew Middler and Sarah Rowlinson, their two members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, and through its youth council—has engaged with MSPs and articulated the needs of young gay people.

All of us in the Parliament have to stand up and say that homophobia is wrong. We have to speak out against it as clearly as we do against racism and sectarianism. If we do that, we will build a better future for young gay Scots and—who knows?—perhaps LGBT Youth Scotland volunteers might be as proud of us in future as we are of them today.

I warmly congratulate Susan Deacon on her success in securing the debate. I welcome the opportunity to add my congratulations to those that she and Margaret Smith have expressed to LGBT Youth Scotland on winning one of the Philip Lawrence awards for community safety in 2004.

The members of LGBT Youth Scotland have shown admirable initiative in organising peer education and training events to raise awareness of LGBT issues—including homophobic bullying, identity, self-harm, suicide, substance abuse and sexual health. By educating other young people and the wider community, LGBT Youth Scotland is taking active steps towards reducing homophobia and prejudice and towards making communities safer for all young people.

In 1996, during his term as Home Secretary, Michael Howard announced the intention of setting up an annual awards scheme in memory of Philip Lawrence. The Philip Lawrence awards were established to recognise outstanding achievements of good citizenship by the young. That happened in the wake of the tragic death of Philip Lawrence who, as we have heard, courageously intervened in a fight between pupils.

The awards have helped to build young communities throughout Scotland. Last year's Scottish winner was Castlehead High School's paired reading club. That programme has raised reading ages, eradicated some of the bullying of people with reading difficulties and increased the self-esteem and confidence of the young people involved.

The awards aim to help vulnerable young groups of all kinds—for example, the young lesbian and gay community. The group that has won this recent award has lobbied very hard on issues of importance to all young people. As its top priorities, it has highlighted changes to the education system and offered support to local LGBT youth groups around Scotland. Actions that help to combat lawlessness and violence and to promote safe and integrated communities, and actions that demonstrate good citizenship, are to be strongly congratulated.

I welcome and commend the bravery and initiative of these young people, who have improved safety and helped to build confidence in their communities. They provide a positive example to their peers. I hope that, in future, we will encourage more young people to participate in the Philip Lawrence awards scheme—to promote the development of responsible, thoughtful and active citizenship.

Michael Howard said of the awards:

"The purpose is to recognise outstanding achievement of good citizenship by the young."

Susan Deacon rightly asked us to remember the words of Philip Lawrence, who said:

"Every child is capable of greatness".

I offer my sincere congratulations to Susan Deacon on securing this debate. This is precisely the kind of debate that members' business should be used for. Sometimes, we do not get the unanimity that we should at members' business. As a business manager and chief whip, I feel that this is exactly the kind of debate that we should be having at this time of night. I also congratulate Margaret Smith on a very fine speech. Obviously, she spoke from her own experience. Her speech was heartfelt and I am sure that it contained words of encouragement for many people.

LGBT Youth Scotland also deserves all our congratulations and support, because it supports other young people in tackling homophobia and bullying and it helps young people at their most vulnerable, when they are adolescents. They have many problems to deal with at that stage without the pressure under which society puts them to adopt what it views as norms. That is why the work of the LGBT Youth Scotland volunteers deserves recognition, not just in relation to the Philip Lawrence awards scheme, but every day of the week, because they support other young people every day of the week. The work that they do is amazing and I cannot praise them enough.

The Philip Lawrence awards scheme is about the outstanding achievement of young people. Young people throughout our communities are working hard, although they get a bad press. I know about the work that young people do from my experience and, judging by the fact that members are nodding their heads, I think that they have similar experience. We should try to encourage more youth organisations and young people to put themselves forward for the awards next year. It is good to see young people getting the recognition that they need and deserve.

The debate has been extremely thoughtful. I apologise that I have to leave immediately after my speech, but we are running late tonight and I have something else to attend to. I offer LGBT Youth Scotland every congratulation and I hope that the work that it does will continue in the years ahead. It is an inspiration to us all and I am grateful for the opportunity to pass on my thanks.

I too congratulate Susan Deacon on securing the debate. I agree with some of Tricia Marwick's comments about the relevance of the topic to a members' business debate. I also thank Susan Deacon's office for drawing to my attention an LGBT event that will be taking place in my constituency shortly. In my brief contribution I will draw attention to the LGBT Youth Scotland national gathering, which will be held in Dumfries from 18 to 20 February, and an associated event.

At the national gathering, the LGBT Youth charter of rights will be launched and endorsed by Kathleen Marshall, the commissioner for children and young people, and elections will be held to the Scottish Youth Parliament on the Sunday. I am looking forward to taking up my invitation to go along and give advice to the prospective members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, although I suspect that they might be able to give me advice. There will also be elections to the youth council and a range of funding activities, which are described on LGBT Youth's website and which will

"range from trash drumming, games and drama to workshops on subjects like the scene and feeling good … to dancin', prancin' and generally muckin about".

I might give the last bit a miss, but I am pleased to hear that these groups of young people are coming to the gathering.

I was particularly impressed to see that LGBT—I actually find it easier to say the longer term, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender—Youth Scotland will not just pay for the accommodation for young people under 26 in friendly bed and breakfasts in Dumfries, but will help with their travel costs and that the event is completely free to the young people who are taking part. That is excellent.

I hope that the young people get a friendly and warm welcome from the people of Dumfries. From the town's point of view it is good to have a number of people coming to stay in bed and breakfasts at a time when the tourist trade is not at its height. I draw to members' attention the fact that I have a motion wishing the event every success. I hope that everyone here who has not signed it yet will do so, as that would send a good message to the young people.

The event is preceded by a community planning event, which was organised by LGBT Youth Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway's inclusive communities forum at Browne House at the Crichton university campus. Among other things, it will focus on services and facilities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ages in Dumfries and Galloway and will include a presentation by local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people. It is a good event to be happening.

Susan Deacon mentioned her birthday, in relation to which we wish her all the best. I am a wee bit older than she is, unfortunately, and entered my sixth decade at the end of last year. My age enables me to reflect on the considerable advances in the promotion of equality and the celebration of diversity that have taken place since I was young. In those days, there were gay bars in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but there were no events in places such as Dumfries such as the one that will take place there this month and no discussions between community planning partners on services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in predominantly rural areas such as Dumfries and Galloway. Although, as Margaret Smith says, there is still much to be done, much progress has been made. I welcome that and congratulate organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland that have been part of the process of making those improvements.

I would like to put on record the apologies of my colleague, Robin Harper, who would have liked to speak this evening, but who has been taken unwell.

I add my congratulations to my friends at LGBT Youth Scotland on their award and to Susan Deacon on securing this debate. However, I hope that members will forgive me if I speak in more general terms about LGBT youth issues, as I used to earn my living working to support an LGBT group in Glasgow.

I am also pleased that Johann Lamont is here to close for the Executive, as this is not the first time I have discussed LGBT youth issues with her in the Parliament. Before my election to the Scottish Parliament, I gave evidence to the Equal Opportunities Committee, of which she was a member at the time. It was during that unpleasant period that I remember as the war of the clause. Just after it finished—and we had claimed victory—the youth group that I was working for had a competition to design their tee-shirts for the next Pride Scotland event. I am sorry to say that I cannot remember the design that was eventually chosen, but I kept with me my favourite—which never made it near the shortlist—because, although it was not colourful or visual, I loved the sarcasm of the tone. In simple text, it says:

"Brian Souter and the Daily Record made it hard for me to come out, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!"

I will clip it to my lectern as my mascot for this evening.

As a youth worker, for about eight or nine months during that unpleasant period, I went to bed every night thinking, "What kind of a news day was that for us?" That was not what I was supposed to be doing. I was supposed to be considering and working on some of the issues that Susan Deacon mentioned in her opening speech. An important one of those issues is the four-year delay that she talked about and the feelings and experiences that people have when they know who they are and that they want to come out but fear doing so, even though they know that it should not even be an issue. Those concerns were why I was giving evidence to the Equal Opportunities Committee—instead of a member of the youth group who had decided, on the morning that we were coming through, that he did not feel able to appear in such a high profile and high pressure situation, which many young people should be able to cope with. I am delighted that there are many people in LGBT Youth Scotland who, with that organisation's support, are able to speak about their experiences with the passion and articulacy that, unfortunately, eluded that member of my youth group.

A colleague of mine from down south, a black youth worker who had worked with black young men and gay young men, once described to me what he saw as the main difference between those two groups. He said, "If you're black, you never have to tell your mother." The feelings around the process of coming out for the first time—very often, people come out to their mothers first—are important. Coming out is something that stays with us. For people who are part of a minority group that was, originally, defined by quite overt oppression, the issue of coming out never goes away; people have to do it again and again throughout their lives.

The main point that I want to make tonight is that as the oppression becomes less overt and the amount of discrimination reduces and, I hope, becomes more trivial, the identity that was formed in the first place by the oppression begins to blur around the edges and sexual identity is no longer so fixed and immutable.

I am hopeful that the Executive's work as part of the sexual health strategy around challenging stigma and discrimination will, as the draft strategy suggested, address sexuality and sexual identity, for as long as we send a number of our young people to school to be educated by an organisation that considers them morally disordered, the issues will remain current in many young people's lives.

I offer apologies from Margaret Smith. She has people coming in to see her, which is why she could not stay for the end of the debate.

I too commend Susan Deacon, not only for lodging the motion and giving the Parliament the opportunity to say thank you and well done to LGBT Youth Scotland but for all the work that she does to highlight the issues, of which she is an excellent champion.

I am sure that LGBT Youth Scotland does not do what it does in order to be thanked, but it is encouraging to have one's efforts recognised. The Philip Lawrence award is a truly significant accolade, so I am delighted to add my congratulations and to thank LGBT Scotland for its tremendously good work in disseminating information and advice and providing support to young people. I think its website must be exceptionally good, because I can navigate around it. It contains an enormous amount of information and I think it is wonderful, so I give a special mention to that, in passing.

As Susan Deacon said, LGBT Youth Scotland helps young people at a difficult time of life, which is the transition from childhood to adulthood. That is when people are beginning to explore their sexuality and ask how they fit into the world as adults. That is difficult for everybody, but it is especially difficult for LGBT youth, and Susan Deacon's description of these issues was excellent.

My aunt is a teacher. I remember hearing her say—probably about 30 years ago—how excellent it was that people felt able to say that they were gay or lesbian. I remember thinking that that was not excellent, because people should not have to identify themselves or say it. It should just be completely acceptable and normal. People should not have to come out; their sexuality should just be something that they are, and it should be as unremarkable as having a big nose or red hair.

I hope that, in the fullness of time, being lesbian or gay will be completely acceptable and unremarkable and we will not need organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland. However, we need them at the moment and they do superbly good work to support young people who face homophobia and bullying. There are two strands to that work, because in addition to supporting people it involves highlighting the issues, challenging people's attitudes and forcing them to deal with the issues properly. It also involves providing a safe outlet for people who are suffering mistreatment, and offering a place where they can go to get informed sympathy and proper help.

The work that LGBT Youth Scotland does as the voice of LGBT young people is also tremendously important. As a society, we are so dependent on volunteering. It is like the beer that gets to places that other beers cannot reach. Volunteers depend on the quality of the core support, and that involves not just money, but people. I commend the excellent, highly competent leadership that LGBT Youth Scotland gets from Jamie Rennie and his team.

I received a nice e-mail from Jamie Rennie:

"The work of the parliament has had a major impact on how many LGBT people related to political processes and politicians. The Scottish Parliament and its members are accessible, approachable and enthusiastic about meeting young people – long may this continue."

It is a two-way street. I think that LGBT Youth Scotland's readiness to engage, its competence and the way in which it engages make our lives as politicians, and our work, that much easier. I thank the organisation and its team again for the excellent work that they do. I say to them: keep it up, and I hope that you will be redundant in the not-too-distant future.

I welcome the opportunity to sum up the debate, although the chamber is emptying—I will try not to take that personally. The award is a great achievement for LGBT Youth Scotland. I am delighted to add the Executive's congratulations to those that others have expressed and to recognise the significance of an award that carries the name of Philip Lawrence, who understood much about the needs and potential of young people. The award is an honour for those who have received it and it is a delight and a pleasure for us to congratulate them on receiving it.

I commend LGBT Youth Scotland for supporting young people to make a difference in their communities through volunteering. As Nora Radcliffe said, we learn yet again about the significance of volunteering and how important it is in our society that people seek to meet an identified need for no reason other than that that need must be met.

I welcome the opportunity that Susan Deacon's motion provides to outline the Executive's commitment to such important work and I commend all those who made powerful speeches in the debate. I reflect again on the power of those who experience discrimination when they speak out about that discrimination. When they give their experience a voice, it is powerful in shaping how we as a society tackle that discrimination. We do not just hear of that experience; it shapes and drives our response.

The Executive has worked closely with LGBT Youth Scotland for several years. We consider it to be a key partner in delivering our equality strategy and in our work to tackle prejudice and discrimination and to promote equal opportunities. We have provided a grant of £150,000 over three years for the organisation's core running costs and a further £65,000 to develop mechanisms for consultation and engagement with LGBT young people. I am particularly pleased to announce tonight that we have just agreed a further £105,000 from April 2005 for a three-year project to strengthen further our engagement with LGBT young people and ensure that their voices are heard. Listening directly to the voices of LGBT young people—to their concerns, experiences and aspirations—will help us to deliver services that tackle the problems and barriers that LGBT young people face.

Since the repeal of section 2A of the Local Government Act 1986, a new commitment has been made in Scotland to embracing equality in sexual orientation and gender identity. With Patrick Harvie, I recall those difficult days, the emotion and difficulty of the debate and the noise and clamour. However, in the middle of that, the clear voice of reason emerged about why the Parliament had to take the decision that it did in the name of justice and equality.

In partnership with the national health demonstration project, healthy respect, LGBT Youth Scotland has contributed to that culture change. Together, they have progressed many training opportunities for professionals and young people. Since 2001, healthy respect and LGBT Youth have achieved work with young people that includes awareness sessions in secondary schools and a theatre in education project called "Them & Us: whose side are you on?", which is designed to challenge homophobia. Work with professionals has included training sessions with teachers and school nurses on LGBT awareness and homophobia. The organisations have also worked with parents and carers and produced a guide on LGBT issues for teachers that went to all Lothian secondary schools.

We are also working with LGBT Youth Scotland on other projects to tackle homophobia and bullying in education. We are committed to ensuring that children in Scottish schools benefit from equality of opportunity and demonstrate respect for themselves and one another. In that context, the needs of LGBT young people and other young people who are affected by the issues must be addressed.

We acknowledge that homophobia continues to be a problem in our schools and that it must be tackled. We have therefore commissioned LGBT Youth Scotland, in partnership with the centre for education for race equality in Scotland, to undertake work to ensure that homophobic bullying or harassment in our schools is dealt with consistently and effectively. Any form of bullying in schools is unacceptable, including homophobic bullying and attacking people on the ground of their sexuality. The Executive, local authorities and schools are working hard to ensure not only that bullying is tackled wherever it arises, but that our young people are instilled with values of tolerance and respect and an appreciation of diversity, which will help to prevent bullying.

The recent national anti-bullying competition highlighted discrimination as a theme of bullying and addressed homophobia, racism and disability. The competition asked young people to think about the importance of being friendly and helpful and about how we should embrace the differences between people. The entries that we received proved that those values already exist among our young people. We have a responsibility to nurture those attitudes and to ensure that our young people grow up to be responsible, caring citizens.

We must also ensure that young people who are the victims of homophobic bullying feel supported in seeking help and advice. New anti-bullying resources for schools address homophobia in detail, so that young people can identify it and know what help is available to them if necessary. That information recognises LGBT Youth Scotland as a key contact for those young people.

February 2005 is the first LGBT history month, and the Executive is delighted to support that initiative. We believe that Scotland will be stronger and more successful if we celebrate diversity and the ways in which different cultures, ideas and experiences enrich Scottish life and have defined us all as Scots. I am delighted that my ministerial colleague, Malcolm Chisholm, will host a reception for LGBT communities at Edinburgh castle later this month to recognise and celebrate the contribution of Scotland's LGBT communities and to recognise in particular the work of LGBT Youth Scotland. I understand that some of the young people from LGBT Youth Scotland have been invited to attend that reception.

We all agree that there is no place in Scotland for homophobic prejudice or discrimination. It is the commitment of the Scottish Executive to continue to work in partnership with Scotland's LGBT communities to recognise their key role in helping us to deliver services that meet their needs and shape the action that we, as a society, must take in the future.

I again congratulate Susan Deacon on securing the debate and thank everybody who has contributed to making it worth while. I also congratulate the young people who have secured this prestigious award and wish them all the best in their continuing efforts to support the LGBT communities.

Meeting closed at 18:01.