Standing up for others in a darkening world - Edward Thornley

The attacks of Friday 19 June have shaken our city and again reminded us that, while the racism and faith-based hate that drove those awful events does not define Edinburgh, it is still out there.

Ed Thornley, Councillor for Drum Brae/Gyle and Leader of the Liberal Democrat group

I’m a Southport boy. I know the community where the attack on that dance class and the riots that followed, took place. I know that, as I felt then, there will be countless people across our city worrying, afraid, thinking “How could that happen here? I didn’t think this was who we are.”

But I also know that while the hate that drove these attacks is out there, in our city, it does not define us. Our city is the communities that come together, time and again, in the aftermath of tragedy.

The council heard how the victims of these attacks came to Edinburgh because they believed it was safe here. That’s the reputation of our city across the world – open, diverse, inclusive. That’s the Edinburgh I know, a city that stands up for its vulnerable communities.

Now, I’m fully aware that there are limits to what a council can do in the face of a nationwide rise in islamophobia, anti-immigrant rhetoric and racism. Yet, in the face of this horror, how could we accept the council doing anything less than everything it can? In all good conscience, we cannot.

It is also Pride Month, and the council heard last week from another vulnerable community in Edinburgh.

A motion on the new guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission was up for debate, and we heard how many trans people came to Edinburgh because they believed in the same open, diverse and inclusive reputation of our city.

The council heard how the trans community are afraid and that many are considering leaving this country.

I looked around the council chamber, and from the Labour and Conservative groups I saw stony faces and hardened hearts.

I am proud that the Liberal Democrat group stood up for the trans community in the council chamber. I am ashamed that others chose not to.

So, as Pride Month draws to a close and as the shadows of the attacks on 19 June linger over our city, is it any wonder that for so many it feels the world is getting darker and darker?

Leader of City of Edinburgh Council Lib Dem group​