THIS week I had the privilege of speaking in the debate celebrating LGBT History Month

LGBT Youth Scotland’s vision is that Scotland is the best place to grow up for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex young people. They play a leading role in the provision of quality youth work to LGBTI young people that promotes their health and wellbeing, and are a valued and influential partner in LGBTI equality and human rights.

LGBT History Month takes place each February and offers the chance to connect and reflect on the past and present of the LGBT community.

While LGBT Youth Scotland creates the annual theme and co-ordinates its website and event listings, LGBT History Month events throughout the month are delivered by community groups, schools, volunteers, activists, and organisations from the private, public and third sectors.

This year’s theme is Blurring Borders: A World in Motion. This year, we are invited to think beyond borders; to consider that, while Scotland has made great strides towards equality, the journey has come at a slower pace in some parts of the world, and faster in others; to recognise that the direction of travel has not always been linear; the waves of progress have ebbed and flowed.

I commend that the UK Government will host its first global LGBT conference this summer in London, ‘Safe to Be Me’, but not their Nationality and Borders Bill, which threatens to make it harder for LGBT people, who continue to be oppressed in many parts of the world, to find sanctuary in the UK.

So we have to ask ourselves: what is Scotland’s place within this global movement?

Countries like Poland and Hungary are faced with a rising tide of anti-LGBT rhetoric and a roll-back of their human rights.

In 69 UN member states, including a majority of former British colonies, LGBT people are still criminalised under homosexuality and ‘cross-dressing’ laws, as well as being targeted under numerous other offences.

The Council of Europe has recently pointed to the UK as one among several countries where the advances of recent years are “under threat” amid “extensive and often virulent attacks on the rights of LGBTI people”.

ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s latest annual review (published February 15) lists the UK as 11th among 49 countries based on its scoring on LGBTI human rights.

Against this backdrop, I encourage you to come together and reflect on the power of people and the strength of solidarity across borders in support of our LGBT community.