Laverne Cox shares powerful Juneteenth message on laying claim to freedom

By Paul O'Kane, West Scotland MSPLast May, I was preparing what would become my first ever speech in the Holyrood chamber.I knew I would speak about many obvious things, such as what I intended to achieve in the next five years, but I was also keen to take the time to speak of the things that came before my life as an MSP and, most importantly, who I was.I had become the first openly gay Scottish Labour MSP to be elected to the Scottish Parliament – a historic wrong that had finally been righted.In addressing this, I remarked that, when I was growing up, I anticipated life would be hard, that I just accepted that I’d receive hurtful words and discrimination, but with supportive figures in my life, such as my parents and my high school teachers, I was encouraged to always be myself – my best self.That mix of knowing what it is to struggle, yet also know what it is to feel supported in that struggle is, for me, what encapsulates LGBT+ History Month.It is a celebration of being part of a diverse, proud and vocal LGBT+ community.It is looking at the progress we have made in our society, from marriage and adoption rights to protection from hate crime in our workplaces and on our streets.By looking back, however, we also see the difficulties, the suffering, the persecution and discrimination that LGBT+ people faced and, of course, still face today.What see more we have to do to ensure that everyone is accepted and supported for who they are or who they love.It was over 20 years ago that Section 28 – a law which prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality by local authorities’ –was repealed.This was a policy that reinforced stigma and discrimination of gay people by trying to erase any trace of them or their lives in our