Scottish Parliament recognises “Shetland’s Gay Bird Club”

Gaada has temporarily awoken from its holiday slumber by the news that there has been a Scottish parliamentary motion to recognise the ‘Shetland Gay Bird Club’ - a playful pseudonym Gaada adopted when publishing the recent zine the Shetland Gay Bird Checklist.

“Shetland Gay Bird Club caught my eye after our brilliant Shetland councillor Alex Armitage posted about it on Twitter - I celebrated their work with a motion. Creative organisations like Gaada are so important for creating a sense of community in rural areas 🎨🏳️‍🌈”

— Ariane Burgess MSP

This modest pamphlet aimed to shine a light on 40 species of birds found in Shetland enjoying gay love in the natural world and create a bit of LGBTQIA+ space around the very traditional Shetland past time of Bird Watching. The Shetland Gay Bird Checklist was the result of cross-referencing the Shetland Bird Checklist with the list of birds displaying homosexual behavior (a Wiki entry which borrows heavily from Bruce Bagemihl’s amazing landmark work Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity).

Whilst our staff are incredibly humbled to have Gaada’s work commended by Scottish Parliament, we would like to redirect this attention toward our wider Queer community of people, groups, and projects that inspire this publication (and indeed our own work), and particularly the fantastic organisations who are providing vital support to Shetland’s growing LGBT spaces.

Gaada hopes that this motion is indicative of wider, genuine interest + action from local and national government toward improving support for LGBT people in Scotland. We would like to thank our Queer Community and encourage you to check out some of the inspirations behind the Shetland Gay Bird Checklist below!

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