Patrick Harvie

He was also a candidate in the election for Rector of the University of Glasgow in February 2008.

Following the Green Party's disappointing performance in the 2007 election, Harvie was returned with a reduced share of the vote. The tight parliamentary arithmetic and a constructive relationship with the Scottish National Party led to a Co-operation Agreement between the two parties. Under this, Harvie was nominated to convene the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee.

Harvie was a member of the Communities Committee of the Scottish Parliament throughout the 2003–07 session, and through this committee he worked on the Anti-social behaviour Bill, the Charities Bill and the Housing Bill, as well as on issues of homelessness, debt, the planning system and building standards. In 2004 Harvie was given the 'One to Watch' award at the annual Scottish Politician of the Year event. In addition to the Communities portfolio, Harvie covered the Justice portfolio for the Greens, and has been active on a number of civil liberties issues. He has also been convener of the Cross Party Group (CPG) on Human Rights, and helped to establish a CPG on Sexual Health.

Harvie is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, Honorary Vice-President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association and a patron of Parents Enquiry Scotland. He is a board member of the Glasgay! Festival, and a member of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Equality Network, Stonewall (UK), Amnesty International, Humanist Society Scotland, Campaign for Real Ale and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. From 2003 till 2007, Harvie wrote a weekly column in the Scottish edition of the Big Issue.

He is bisexual, and in 2003 became the first openly bisexual Member of the Scottish Parliament.

From 1997 till his election in 2003, Harvie worked within the Gay Men's Project at the sexual health organisation PHACE Scotland (now part of the Terrence Higgins Trust) initially as a youth worker and later as Development Worker for the Lanarkshire Health Board area. Although this work was principally concerned with HIV prevention, it also involved Harvie in equality campaigning. He also had a spell as a civil servant, working with the Inland Revenue in Dumbarton. During this period, he was active in the campaign to repeal Section 2A of the Local Government Act, more commonly known as Section 28. This campaign was successful, and Harvie has stated that the experience prompted him to become more actively involved in politics, leading to his joining the Scottish Green Party.

Harvie went to Dumbarton Academy between 1984–1991, and attended Manchester Metropolitan University where he was briefly a member of the Labour party.

Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is the co-leader of the Scottish Green Party (with Lorna Slater) and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region. He was first elected in the 2003 election and was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2016.