Discussions about the lives and experiences of LGBTQ communities are part of Scotland’s political and media landscape – in good and bad ways.

Ahead of the upcoming election to the Scottish Parliament on 7 May 2026, join us to explore the connections between LGBTQ lives and politics in Scotland today. Whether discussing the expansion of hate crime legislation or the exclusion of trans people from public life, Scottish politics and questions related to gender, sex and sexuality are entangled.

This panel discussion celebrates the launch of Queer in a Wee Place: Small Nations, Sexuality & Scotland (Bloomsbury Academic)– a new collection of reflections on queer lives and experiences in Scotland. The book charts tensions between past, present and future imaginaries of a Scotland as a progressive ‘wee place’ and challenges related to the under-resourcing of and backlash against equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives, legislation such as hate crime laws and the UK Supreme Court ruling on ‘sex’ in the Equality Act.

• Tues 21 April | 3 – 4.30pm
• Edinburgh Futures Institute
• All welcome

Register for the event here.

The event is co-sponsored by the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab and GENDER.ED.