Joe. My. God.: SCOTLAND: Pro-Independence Group Aims To Place LGBT Rights In New Constitution

Next week a subgroup of the Yes Scotland secession movement will hold a meeting to discuss enshrining LGBT rights in a new national constitution.

YES LGBT and MSP Patrick Harvie will host the conference on Monday in Glasgow, and will address issues such as the written constitution, equality law, gender recognition, asylum policy and foreign policy. An introduction to the Rainbow Paper, which will be announced on Monday, reads: “It goes without saying that as LGBTI people we are much more than just our sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status. We are younger and older, students and workers, parents and grandparents, and we have the same hopes and aspirations for our families and our country as everyone else. As LGBTI people we will be voting for independence for many of the same reasons as other Scots. We want to see decisions about Scotland taken by the people who care most about Scotland – the people who live and work here. We know that with the full powers of an independent country Scotland will be able to take progressive decisions on a wide-range of important issues from tackling poverty to strengthening our economy."

The independence vote is September 18th and a poll released today indicates that the result may be closer than previously thought.

A poll for the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper released Friday showed that support for independence has surged by 4 percent, to 47 percent – just 6 percentage points behind the “No” campaign. The Survation poll found 47 percent of respondents would vote "Yes" to independence, compared to 53 percent who would vote "No," excluding people who were undecided. This is the first survey after the final TV debate between Alex Salmond, the leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, and Alistair Darling, the head of the anti-independence "Better Together" campaign.