Sheila MacAskill

Sheila Lennox MacAskill (1946 – 17 April 2020) was a Scottish gay rights campaigner who had a pivotal role in decriminalising homosexuality in Scotland. MacAskill was also the first Chairwoman of the Scottish Minorities Group (SMG), their only female executive, and was responsible for establishing their first premises on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, in 1977.

Early life MacAskill declared that she came out of the womb gay, "end of story".

MacAskill worked with Derek Ogg to contest the illegality of homosexuality in Scotland. Now no longer in line with England and Wales, where homosexuality was already decriminalised, MacAskill made a submission to the European Commission on Human Rights. She said that attitudes in Scottish society at the time were "calculated to make the homosexual see him or herself in a quite evil and guilty aspect".

She continued: "I am, as a self-avowed homosexual woman, subject to many discriminatory attitudes which effectively applied, can and do inhibit and deny my ability to be a fully participating and integrated member of this Scottish society to which I rightfully belong."

Death and legacy By the time the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 was amended, MacAskill had developed Lupus and retreated from public life. She died from a stroke and complications at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in 2020. Her significant contribution to advancement of equal rights for gay men and lesbians in Scotland at that time is a legacy which is still noted today.