Catherine Somerville was impressed by the support Scotland's party leaders gave to LGBTI issues at a recent event in Edinburgh

As a bit of a political geek, the election season means one thing for me: seeing our leaders take each other to task on their policies, their record, and their promises; and I watch, ever hopeful, that we can achieve something constructive through challenge and debate. Last week’s LGBTI hustings, hosted by Scotland’s four biggest LGBT charities, Stonewall Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland, the Equality Network and the Scottish Transgender Alliance, was a hustings with a difference, and I think, perhaps, really did just that.

The watchword of the event was consensus – a rare word in any political debate, but one which means a lot to people desperate for progress on the very real inequalities faced by LGBT people in Scotland. This was nowhere more evident than on the need for a review of the Gender Recognition Act, to look at how we can make it easier for trans people to gain legal recognition of their gender based on their own testimony, rather than that of panel of psychiatrists and civil servants. Right from the opening comments, when Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale outlined her commitment to a review of the Gender Recognition Act, trans equality was in the spotlight.

It was an amazing thing, sitting in a room full of LGBTI people, their friends and allies, and hearing all our party leaders engaging with LGBTI issues in a meaningful and thoughtful way

Catherine Somerville

All leaders agreed non-binary people should have their identities recognised, not just in law but in practical terms – updating the vast swathes of paperwork which currently erases people’s very existence with two little boxes labelled F and M. And there was a consensus that, like the right to marry, to vote, or to serve in the military, legal recognition of someone’s gender should be accessible to people in Scotland from 16, not 18.

But there was one topic where I think I had hoped for something more. Education was the first issue of the night, with Scottish Conservative Party Leader Ruth Davidson highlighting it as a priority even in her opening statement, but whilst all leaders recognised the importance of inclusive education, and training teachers as part of that, even the First Minister’s commitment to training teachers on LGBT issues stretches only to new, guidance, and promoted teachers.

This is a welcome start, absolutely, but, as an audience member who had recently left school commented, it is too often teachers in leadership positions, and those who have been in post for a long time, who find addressing LGBT issues challenging. Scottish Liberal Democrats Leader Willie Rennie indicated that such training was needed for all teachers, but achieving this needs a long-term, sustainable strategy. While more than half of LGBT young people still face bullying in our schools, we can, and must do more.

It was an amazing thing, sitting in a room full of LGBTI people, their friends and allies, and hearing all our party leaders engaging with LGBTI issues in a meaningful and thoughtful way. Co-convener of the Scottish Green, Patrick Harvie at one point suggested that this is the election when trans people found their voice, and perhaps that should have happened sooner, but we’re here now: party leaders have sat on a panel where trans issues are top of the agenda, where trans people have had the platform to speak to our leaders directly, and where reforming the laws effecting trans people is spoken about in terms of when and how, not if.

Harvie suggested that change is inevitable, not just because of the consensus among leaders, but because the people gathered last night, and those following on Periscope and Twitter around the world, will be relentless in pursuing it. The party leaders have now had their say on LGBTI equality, it’s time for us to have ours. So research your candidates, check that you’re registered, think about what matters to you, and use your vote. Because we all need to be relentless in pursuing equality, our work is not yet done.

Catherine Somerville is campaigns, policy and research manager at Stonewall Scotland