Nicola Sturgeon leads Glasgow Pride and pays tribute to young man who was recently homophobically attacked
Nicola Sturgeon became the only serving prime minister or first minister to lead in the UK to lead a Pride event.
On Saturday the leader of the SNP lead Glasgow Pride, headed up Scotland’s largest LGBT event, where she was named honorary grand martial owing to her support for the community’s issues.
Wearing a T-shirt that read, “Choose Love”, she led the march alongside Suki Wan, the chair of the Scottish youth parliament.
Nicola Sturgeon with Scottish Youth Parliament chair Suki Wan at Pride on Saturday (Twitter)
Addressing the crowd, she told them: “You all look amazing, you all look beautiful. You are an absolutely wonderful sight, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, I am so proud to be here with all of you today.
“Scotland values tolerance, Scotland values diversity, Scotland values respect for all, and above all Scotland values love. These values that are so precious to us are values that are under threat all over the world, more than they have been in my lifetime, so it is important that here in Glasgow, in Scotland’s biggest city we reaffirm these principles and values of tolerance, diversity, love and respect and let the whole world hear them.”
Sturgeon went on to pay tribute to Blair Wilson, the 21-year-old from Neilston, East Renfrewshire, who posted a defiant selfie after being attacked for being gay.
She became the first serving prime minister or first minister to lead a Pride event (Twitter)
She said: “This morning I watched a video posted by a young man called Blair Wilson, I don’t know if he’s here today, but Blair suffered a horrific, unprovoked, homophobic attack 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, of courage and of compassion are the values that should define our country. So Blair, we all stand with you.”
She paid tribute to Blair Wilson who was recently attacked for being gay
Trump arrived in Scotland yesterday amid protests – and no welcome from Sturgeon, and the First Minister admitted to the crowd that she was “tickled” by reports that Trump “hates” her and has even been “bitching” about her to Theresa May.
She said: “I find it hard to believe that the president of the United States, with all the big, important issues that he has to deal with on a daily basis, finds the time to rant about me on the telephone to Theresa May.
“If it is true, I suppose I should take it as a compliment. I certainly don’t spend that much time talking about him.”
