SCOTLAND has travelled some distance in recent years in recognising the problem of transgender bullying that some young people face. Even a decade ago and certainly in the 1990s and 1980s, such targeting of vulnerable and isolated minorities was given scant regard in public discourse.
It's all too easy to congratulate ourselves on the progress made in recent years with legislation passed creating a specific offence of transgender aggravated hate crime.
The legalisation of same sex marriage and the scrapping at the start of the devolution era of the pernicious Section 28 (2A) that prohibited teachers from talking about gay relationships, could suggest that the battle for a tolerant society is largely won.
But figures showing not only a surge in transgender hate crime, but that children perpetrate such attacks, is a shocking reminder of very real failings that remain.
Bullying and abuse of any kind are always unacceptable, and it would be complacent to believe we do not have lingering issues of racism, sexism and homophobia. Clearly, transgender prejudice remains an area we have yet to get to grips with.
For that reason, the Sunday Herald commends initiatives such as the Time For Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign to make it a legal requirement that such issues are part of the school curriculum. We welcome the Scottish Government's launch of a working group on the issue, and would urge ministers to legislate swiftly.
However, parents must also set an example to children in the way they behave towards others, so that transphobic abuse comes to be seen as unacceptable as any other form of prejudice.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here