Rob McDowall

Rob McDowall (born 1985 as Robert Norman in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland) is an openly gay campaigner for LGBT rights and equality. McDowall co-founded Health Thru Understanding in 2003 with view to providing a "caring, sharing community" to people living with illness and disease. McDowall has campaigned for equal rights and is a member of the Scottish Socialist Party and Scottish Socialist Youth. Launching the equal rights campaign, Equal Rights Now, McDowall said
"Being a member of the LGBT community is difficult enough, it has it's challenges and hurdles, without people being victimised, bullied or made to feel less of person. Gay people pay taxes, transsexuals can still vote and, to date, I am led to believe that being gay, bisexual or transgender is not illegal in the UK" .

Educated in Gourock High School, McDowall left school at age 16 to follow a career aspiration in Nursing, working in various nursing homes in Greenock where Rob developed an interest in talking therapy, and supporting residents by shadowing, visiting therapists, and counsellors.

Having completed a counselling course at James Watt College (Greenock, Scotland) Rob moved on to a Diploma in Counselling from a Counselling centre in Glasgow, Scotland. Delivering telephone counselling as a volunteer counsellor with Counselling UK , Rob provides free telephone and face-to-face counselling to people in need and with little or no income.

Active Campaigns

'My Blood, Not Good Enough' is a campaign Rob started to have the guidelines changed which prevent healthy gay and bisexual men from donating blood. A petition was raised at the Scottish Parliament and at popular networking site, Bebo . Rob has written an article for Green Left Weekly in Australia and the Internationalen Swedish Trotskyist weekly, on this issue.

Having built relations and obtained support from MEP Struan Stevenson, MEP Alyn Smith, MSP Ross Finnie, MSP Dr Bill Wilson and LGBT related news groups, McDowall has been invited to the OUTNOW diversity committee in the past and will have his campaign and petition raised before the Scottish Parliament's petitions committee.

McDowall has also launched a campaign to have the law changed in Scotland to allow 16 year olds to have the vote, he said:

"Being 16 in Scotland, you can marry, you can play the lottery and
you can pay taxes - but you cannot vote! If the government is happy
to accept taxes, national insurance and can hold someone able and
capable as a member of society - why can persons 16 and over, not
have the right to vote?" .

The campaign is specific to Scotland and the Scottish Parliament.

McDowall is currently involved in the launch and roll out of a campaign to Save Jojo Yakob a gay Syrian teenager
who entered the UK illegally and faces being deported to Syria where he faces torture, imprisonment and even death.
The Syrian embassy describes homosexuality as "a disease which can be cured" . The Scottish Parliament have launched a motion to have the Home Office review their policy on 'at risk' refugees and asylum seekers.

Health Thru Understanding

Launched in 2003, Health Thru Understanding is a peer to peer support group which McDowall launched to provide a platform
of support and peer advice. With members from Inverness to India the site has over 26,800 message board posts and is free of advertisements or sponsorship. McDowall and other co-founder Marie Rosen from Canada, completely self fund the community website.

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