McInnes welcomes "step forward" in hate crime legislation

10.54.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 22nd May 2008

Aberdeenshire MSP Alison McInnes today welcomed moves to extend hate crime legislation to cover homophobic crime and crimes motivated by a victim's disability.

Welcoming government support for the bill, Mrs McInnes said: "I am pleased that there is SNP support for including gay and disabled people in hate crime protection. To date legislation has not recognised sexual orientation or disability as grounds for discrimination and in 21st Century Scotland that's unacceptable.

"No-one should live their lives in fear of assault because they're disabled or gay. This legislation is therefore a welcome step forward."

The bill is available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/bills/09-AggPrej/b9s3-introd-pm.pdf