Scottish Labour Party leader Kezia Dugdale keeps her personal life close to her chest, but recently announced that she is in a same-sex relationship. Counting Dugdale, the majority of Scotland’s major party leaders have come out as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.
According to the Independent, Scotland is “the only country in the world where the majority of its mainstream party leaders are out as LGB. Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Green Party Patrick Harvie, and Ukip Scotland leader David Coburn have all come out as LGB.”
The public has applauded the graceful way Dugdale, in an interview with the Fabian Review, referred to her relationship:
And while it’s important that Dugdale mentions her relationship without “fanfare”—and that there was relatively little to-do as a result—members and allies of the LGBT community celebrate her openness. Little by little, queer-identified people are finding representation in public forums.
And Dugdale, in turn, has tweeted out her appreciation of everyone’s support, emojis included.
“I have a female partner,” Dugdale told The Independent. “I don’t talk about it very much because I don’t feel I need to. And there’s something too about how meteoric my career has been. I am generally calm, almost serene. I don’t get easily stressed or battered. But I need a bit of stability to do that, and that means my private life is my private life. That’s the thing I have to have that nobody gets to touch, and that gives me strength to be calm elsewhere.”
Top Image via Getty. Embedded Images via Twitter.
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