Scotland’s youngest politicians have launched a national campaign calling for marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) donned wedding dresses and morning suits in a bid to urge the Scottish Government to allow same-sex couples to get married.

Their Love Equally campaign, launched on Monday, follows research by the Equality and Rights Commission which shows that the majority of Scottish people support marriage equality.

While civil partnerships have been allowed between couples of the same sex in the UK since 2005, marriage is not legal.

In 2009, the Scottish Government rejected a 1317-signature petition by NUS Scotland calling for the amendment of legislation to allow same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnerships in Scotland on the basis that legalisation of same-sex marriage would require changes on a national level, concerning matters such as pensions and inheritance law.

In February of this year, however, members of the UK Government announced their intention to conduct a consultation on marriage laws.

Grant Costello, 18, chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament said: “Our hope is that the Scottish Government will legislate on equal marriage rights. They have promised to do it at some point during their five year term but I don’t see a reason why they can’t do it now.

“It shouldn’t be something that even needs debated in my opinion; it’s something that quite obviously should be passed into law. Hopefully we’ll convince them that young people want this.”

The SYP voted for the national campaign after consulting with 42,804 young people across Scotland and conducting a debate amongst its 150 elected members.

The group, which involves people aged 14 to 25, now aim to spread their message through a series of events, including festivals, youth group meetings and street activities.

Grant added: “We’ll be doing some really unique and fun things. We are a youth organisation and we do recognise that while people are extremely passionate about politics, it can be a bit boring sometimes, so we like to spice it up a bit and we like to make it entertaining.”

Fellow member Dariush Saheli, 16, board member and MSYP for Cunningham South, added: “We really believe that everybody deserves equality, whether that be in marriage or just in general life we all deserve the right to choose.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re homosexual or heterosexual you should both have the same right.”

The campaign is supported by a number of politicians, including Linda Fabiani, David Torrance and Patrick Harvie. SNP MSP Marco Biagi, who recenly submitted a motion to Scottish Parliament praising the MSYP’s work to promote marriage equality, said: “It’s great that the Youth Parliament are showing leadership on this, it shows that Scotland’s young people are at the forefront on the campaign for equality, they’ve got a great contribution to make.

“We stood on a manifesto of bringing forward a consultation on same-sex marriage which is the first step towards legislating. I look forward to that because I know what my feelings are and I’m sure I’ll be taking to the rooftops and screaming from them just like the SYP will be.”

IN DETAIL

• SYP website