The first openly gay Lord Provost of Edinburgh has urged young people who are worried about their sexuality today to "be themselves and be confident."
Robert Aldridge, who took up civic leader duties last month amid resounding support from all politicians said in his early days as a councillor it was unlikely a gay person would have been elevated to the historic role.
The 66-year-old said: "I don't think it would have happened in the days of back to basics and all that."
But almost 40 years on, following a seismic shift in attitudes towards the LGBT community, he said being attracted to the same sex "just isn't an issue any more."
He pointed out his election as Lord Provost "proves anybody can be their best person, regardless of their background."
He said: "And I hope that if there are young people who are at school at the moment who are worried about their sexuality that they just are able to be themselves and be confident and get on with life.
"Try and be confident, certainly my family was hugely supportive and I know some people have more difficulties with their family but talk to people, your real friends will support you and it really is a great relief when you are authentic about who you really are."
Mr Aldridge said it's "not a gay crusade by me or anything like that", adding: "It's just a part of who I am."
Nominations to be the capital's new figurehead from all five parties are testament to his decades of experience working cross-party in the council and as a local champion in his ward Drum Brae/Gyle - which has undergone a succession of name and boundary changes since he was first elected there in 1984, known then as Park Grove.
When asked if donning the chain had been a long time ambition, he replied: "I suppose everybody hopes in the back of their mind that they might actually get the enormous privilege of being the Lord Provost.
"It wasn't something I had planned for, it was just really overwhelming that people put that trust in me - I just hope I can live up to it."
Aldridge was confirmed as Edinburgh's 258th Lord Provost at the first full council meeting following the local elections last month.
Simultaneously stepping down from his role as leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Kevin Lang was named as his successor.
Addressing members in the chamber for the first time, he spoke of the privilege he felt to be chosen as the new civic head of “the best capital city in the world.”
He also paid tribute to his predecessor, SNP councillor Frank Ross, for 'presiding over this chamber with both good humour and quiet authority'.
"I could barely speak I was so overwhelmed," the Provost said reflecting on that day.
"The moment the chain was put on was just an incredible feeling of responsibility and privilege. It's quite heavy, I think it's about three kilograms - I feel the weight of history on my shoulders, literally."
He added Councillor Ross had warned "you won't know what's hit you" in informal discussions between the pair as he prepared for the job.
He said: "It is the sheer volume of activity, it is absolutely really hectic, but I like that.
"There are clearly a whole lot of civic duties which are quite traditional and which happen every year as they should do and the great thing is that they're real - it's not a Disney pretendy thing, it's real, it's got oomph behind behind it, real tradition behind it and I think it gives a real dignity to the city.
"It's a post that's been held by a whole range of different people and, I hope I live up to this, they've all adapted really well and taken on the mantle of being almost the speaker of the council, taking a less partisan role."
He said the first month occupying the ancient office has been "a mixture of bewildering and overwhelming."
One of the first engagements he attended was the lighting of the beacons at Edinburgh Castle to mark the start of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
"There's nothing like being thrown in at the deep end and it was just a fantastic opportunity," he added. "It was really interesting not just to be able to meet royalty and to be on board HMS Albion, which is I think the third biggest ship in the Royal Navy and meet a whole lot of charities that the Queen is the patron of on board there, but also the picnic in Princes Street Gardens, it was just excellent and weirdly enough, the weather in Edinburgh held up."
A hugely popular figure among city councillors, Robert is known affectionately by his peers as 'Dobby', a moniker which he said "comes from when I was two."
"There have been attempts over the years to ditch it but it doesn't ever happen, but I'm absolutely fine with that," he said.
He said jokingly: "I really need to get in touch with J. K. Rowling because I'm sure that the house elf came from having overheard about me," adding the One City Trust, the equality charity which he is president of "could get one per cent of the royalties" from the Harry Potter series.
Aside from his lengthy career as a local politician in the capital, Mr Aldridge has spent his life working with homelessness charities, having previously been the chief executive of the Scottish Council for Single Homeless and the president of the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless.
But he said he fell into that line of work "by accident" just after he was elected as a councillor 38 years ago.
"I needed a part-time job to make ends meet and there was a part time job as information officer for a homelessness charity. I went into that not knowing a great deal about it and just got caught up with being passionate about trying to do something.
"People can make bad decisions in their lives and things can just get out of control and what we've got to do is try to find a way to try to help them back on track. I've worked with a number of homeless people who have got through homelessness and are out the other side, they've got jobs, they've got families, they've reintegrated and that's fantastic."
Asked what he sees as the biggest challenge for the council over the next five years, the Provost was unequivocal.
He said:"It's how we deal with the cost of living crisis. There's a lot of people really struggling and that all links in to the rest of these issues. The council has limited powers but what we can do we should do."
However, he added a minority administration heavily reliant on the support of opposition parties leading the council "will go one of two ways."
He said: "It could be chaotic with people just trying to stop anything happening and I don't think the people of Edinburgh would forgive that. They expect that once they've had their say, we make the most of it and achieve what we can. Or, we can work together and there's a lot of common cause across all the party manifestos."
And Councillor Aldridge said the system of proportional representation introduced in 2007 when he had already spent 23 years in the chambers has allowed the local authority "to become a lot more professional as a council and a lot more coherent."
He said: "When I got in it was when militant tenancy took over the city; Princes Street was emblazoned with banners about improving services, creating jobs and it was a real kind of frisson about the place.
"Now parties have to work together to get anything done and that either creates chaos if people don't want to play ball, or if we're adults in the room we can actually achieve quite a lot."
From the vantage point of the Provost's chair, Councillor Aldridge will be able to keep a close eye on progress made by the council in across all areas it is responsible for, whilst remaining largely non-political.
He said being given the opportunity to serve as Lord Provost is "the best thing in the world" and is looking ahead to a busy summer of engagements, which will include welcoming all members of the Royal Family to Edinburgh next week.
