Scottish Government announces £1m to tackle sectarianism

Photo: Annabelle Ewing - credit Scottish Parliament

The Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing has announced funding of £1m to tackle sectarianism and support community organisations dealing with the issue.

Among others, Sense Over Sectarianism will get £100,000, Nil by Mouth £85,000, Citizens Theatre £80,000, Youthlink Scotland £61,995 and Supporters Direct Scotland £65,000.

In all, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs, announced the continued support for 20 community projects working online and across Scotland to tackle sectarianism.

This funding takes the total Scottish Government investment in tackling sectarianism to £12.5m over five years.

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The Scottish Government will also take forward the recommendations made by the independent Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland.

In its concluding report the advisory group states sectarianism needs to be tackled with the same conviction and confidence as racism and homophobia.

Annabelle Ewing said: “The effort to eradicate sectarianism from Scottish life has been underway for a very long time yet too many people are still facing discrimination in our communities.

“These projects are approaching the issue in different ways to give us a varied and wide-reaching strategy to combat sectarianism as set out in the Advisory Group report.”

She added: “In person and online, at school, play and in work – our partners are showing that sectarian attitudes and behaviour have no place in a modern Scotland.”

The announcement was made as Nil by Mouth hosted the inaugural Kiss Bigotry Goodbye Cup football competition for girls in Lanarkshire as part of its ongoing #kissbigotrygoodbye campaign.

Nil by Mouth campaign director Dave Scott said: “Scotland is bigger, better and brighter than bigotry and this funding will help groups like Nil by Mouth continue to press home this message right across the country.”

Kiss Bigotry Goodbye is a collaboration between Nil by Mouth and students from City of Glasgow College to highlight the positives of being a football fan in Scotland.

It asks people to post a photo of a person, place or thing which makes them love football to Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #KissBigotryGoodbye.