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Scottish Trade Union Congress told to take stand for LGBT rights

Glasgow's Commonwealth Games must see the fight for queer rights across the Commonwealth brought front and centre

Glasgow's Games must see the fight for queer rights across the Commonwealth brought front and centre, trade unionists in Dundee said yesterday.

STUC LGBT committee member Jenny Douglas told delegates that July's events were an opportunity to show a society "proud to respect diversity and equality."

But Scotland's trade unions cannot afford to miss the opportunity to highlight some competing nations' grim human rights records.

LGBT Russians' stories of ordinary people "hounded down like animals" had become a popular cause worldwide alongside the coverage of the Sochi Olympics.

But many Commonwealth nations were just as culpable, she said.

LGBT people face the death penalty in Uganda and years in prison in Nigeria.

Ms Douglas said that even as she spoke, fellow Unite member Apata Aderonke Adejumoke was battling immigration officials seeking to deport her and return her to her homeland, despite the risk of torture and death.

"Let's not forget that when the Commonwealth Games arrive here," she said.

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