Nicola Sturgeon at Pride Glasgow | Photo: David Hudson
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, today attended PrideGlasgow in a rainbow #ChooseLove t-shirt.
The leader of the Scottish National Party also implied that she opted to attend the LGBTI festival over entertaining President Trump, who is visiting Scotland this weekend.
Speaking to the crowds at Kelvingrove Park, the Pride Grand Marshal said: ‘I choose to be here no matter what or who is here this weekend.’
She furthermore added: ‘I’m wearing this #ChooseLove t-shirt because it’s raising money for refugees. The UK should be open to LGBTI asylum seekers.’
Nicola Sturgeon at Glasgow Pride | Photo: David Hudson
‘Tolerance, diversity, equality, love and respect’
She also lead the Pride parade making her, according to her party, the first elected head of government in the UK to lead an LGBTI march.
During the parade, Sturgeon tweeted: ‘Proud to lead this massive @prideglasgow march today – celebrating and reaffirming the values of tolerance, diversity, equality, love and respect.’
An estimated 8,000 participants took part in the parade, with up 50,000 spectators watching along the route.
Sturgeon also paid tribute to Scottish 21-year-old Blair Wilson, who posted a smiling selfie this week despite being physically abused by homophobes.
‘Blair, we all stand with you’
She said: ‘There’s work still to be done. We must eradicate transphobia in our society. We must stand up to and tackle hate crime wherever it exists. In Scotland I watched a video posted by a young man by the name of Blair Wilson. I don’t know if he’s here today.
‘Blair suffered a horrific, unprovoked homophobic attack in Renfrewshire recently. But instead of cowering away, he spoke up and let me say this – the principles and the values demonstrated by that young man, of dignity, courage and compassion, are the values that should define our country. So Blair, we all stand with you.’
She also said: ‘This t-shirt is helping to raise money to support refugees. So the message we bring out from Kelvingrove today is no matter your background, no matter where you come from, no matter who you choose to love, you are welcome here.’
President Trump arrived in Scotland to protests yesterday. This followed a short but dramatic visit to England which culminated in 250,000 protesting against him in central London.
Pride Glasgow follows last weekend’s Pride in London, which saw lesbian activists block the parade in protest of trans women.
Lesbian activists block Pride in London march to protest against trans women
