Image source, bbc

MSPs agree the general principles of the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill, external.

107 MSPs backed it, Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles voted against and SNP MSPs Christine Grahame and Colin Beattie abstained.

The legislation, if passed, will shift Scotland to a soft "opt-out" system for organ donation.

At present, people must opt in to the system in order to donate their organs for transplants after they die.

Under the proposals published at the Scottish Parliament, it will be assumed people were in favour of donation unless they have stated otherwise.

Equalities Minister Christina McKelvie praises Ms Gilruth for bringing forward this debate, adding that many young gay men and women will be seeing her in the chamber today and taking heart from it.

LGBT individuals are just trying to be who they are she says.

She says LGBT history month is so important because it recognises people who fought for today's rights.

This government is committed to reviewing and reforming gender recognition legislation to improve trans rights, Ms McKelvie states.

The minister jokes that she thought she was about to hear Ms Gilruth propose to her girlfriend Kezia Dugdale when talking about not being able to marry in church.

Image source, Getty Images

When Education Secretary John Swinney announced that Scotland would be the first country in the world to have LGBTI education embedded in its school curriculum, campaigners hailed the move as a "monumental victory".

Eighteen years after the abolition of a law which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools, the Scottish government has accepted in full the recommendations of a working group, external set up to improve the experiences of LGBTI young people in classrooms and playgrounds.

The move has been widely welcomed, with Blair Wilson, who was publicly praised by Nicola Sturgeon this summer after being subjected to a violent homophobic attack, describing it as "amazing".

He said that kind of education would have enabled him to realise that he was "OK to be exactly to who I am".

31 years ago Section 28 was introduced.

Section 28 was a clause of a local government act, to stop a council promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.

No one was successfully prosecuted under the act.

The gay writer and journalist Matthew Todd, who was editor at Attitude magazine for many years, was at school in those days and looks back at the effect it had.

Scottish Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie says this is a parliament which still has never yet, in its 20 years of existence, voted against equality or human rights.

Mr Harvie remembers the Section 28 campaign when, as a LGBT youth worker at the time, he had to walk past billboards that said "protect our children" and they meant from people like him.

Image source, bbc

Mr Harvie says the bigotry of the Section 28 campaign was faced down but he asks how much we have moved.

The Green MSP points to the gay and trans lessons in primary schools headline in the Sunday Times.

"Learning the lessons of history, that matters all the more."

"We must stand together, that's the only way we make progress."

We must stand up against those trying to take the T away from LGBT.

Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale says LGBT history month is a celebration.

She says when hers and Ms Gilruth's relationship became public knowledge 18 months ago, people were more interested in their difference in politics than the fact they were gay.

This shows the positive moves towards equal rights which have been made in the recent decade, she says.

When I was young you were lucky if LGBT people were tolerated, ten years ago they were accepted and now we are actively talking about them being included Ms Dugdale says.

I hope our trans friends will follow this path too, she adds.

She says the government's decision to delay amending the Gender Recognition Act has created a vacuum in which ignorance grows.

Image source, bbc

For many years Scotland just did not do gay. Homosexuality was dangerous and taboo, and it was actually against the law right up to the 1980s. So how did a country that seemed to take pride in its prejudices end up withthe best gay rights in Europe?

Post-war Scotland was a deeply conservative place. In fact, half the country voted Tory in 1950 and most people attended the Kirk on a Sunday. Sex was rarely, if ever, mentioned.

If talking about the birds and bees in the 1950s was taboo then mention of the possibility of bees getting together with each other was totally forbidden.

Dr Jeff Meek, the author of Queer Voices in Post-War Scotland, says: "There was almost a bar on talking about same-sex desire."

He says homosexuality was something families, religious institutions, the medical profession and society at large all chose to ignore.

Read more here.

Image source, ELAINE LIVINGSTONE

In June 1969 a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a private members gay bar in Greenwich Village, exploded into a night of violent protest.

What followed was a week of rioting with pitched battles between the New York gay community and riot police.

It was a watershed moment in gay history which inspired a new militant phase in the gay rights movement.

During the 1960s homosexuality was still classified as a mental illness in the US, with "sufferers" subject to frequent victimisation from the police and society at large.

Image source, bbc

Tory MSP Annie Wells says LGBT History Month's theme this year is CATALYST: 50 years of activism and marks 50 years since the Stonewall uprising.

"I know how proud I am to be in the LGBTI community."

Ms Wells says in rural areas there is still much to be done in terms of progress.

She praises all the LGBTI groups across Scotland.

Image source, AFP

In 2016 we reported lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pupils were still experiencing high rates of bullying in schools, according to campaigners.

LGBT Youth Scotland said the pupils were also not confident about reporting abuse to staff.

The charity called for strong leadership from schools and local authorities on the bullying.

The Scottish government said a new anti-bullying strategy had been developed with LGBT organisations.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth recalls Section 28, which prevented the "promotion" of homosexuality", came into effect the year before she started school.

"Thankfully we live in more enlightened times now."

Ms Gilruth reflects on the recent imprisonment of Egypt TV host Mohamed al-Ghiety for interviewing a gay man on air and wonders if Prime Minister Theresa May brought this up on her recent visit to the country.

The SNP MSP highlights the importance of activism in the LGBT rights movement and praises the TIE campaign in Scotland.

"Time has moved on but ingrained prejudice remains."

I still can't marry my girlfriend in the church I was brought up with, she says.

Image source, AFP/GETTY

MSPs will now celebrate the 13th LGBT History Month, external.

It is now LGBT History Month 2019. This year our theme is peace, activism and reconciliation.