WEST Dunbartonshire's MP has said more needs to be done to combat homophobic bullying.

Martin Docherty-Hughes, who is openly gay, spoke before a committee in the House of Commons on online homophobia.

His comments came during a discussion of a petition launched by Bobby Norris, which aims to make homophobic harassment online a specific criminal offence and was signed by more than 150,000 people.

Mr Docherty-Hughes said: "The intrinsic nature of homophobia—whether in the real world or the unreal world—is bullying. It is a bully that does not show its face, and is often ignorant of the reality and the impact of that type of discourse.

"Plenty of people engage in this type of discourse, which is based on a falsehood, evidenced by hate, which allows them a veneer of respectability; there are those of us who believe we see it even in this place on a regular basis."

Mr Docherty-Hughes also praised the more than 250 of his constituents in West Dunbartonshire who had signed the petition.

The MP went on to say that hate has continued throughout time, and the rise of the internet has added a new dimension to the hatred received by people in the LGBT community.

He added: "Why should the digital age be less full of hate than the previous age?

"Since the dawn of time, the LGBT community has faced unfounded and pernicious discrimination.

"As an openly gay man, I am very much aware of it; I was born into a world in which homosexuality was illegal.

"I hope the honourable member for Wallasey (Labour's Angela Eagle) will forgive me if I mention that the legal systems of the United Kingdom meant that, in Scotland, homosexuality was not decriminalised until 1980—when I was nine years old—and that in Northern Ireland, it was not decriminalised until 1982."

To stem the rise of online hate, Mr Docherty-Hughes also called on massive technology companies like Amazon, Facebook and Twitter - who store masses of data which is propagated on their platforms - to "come to the table" and be part of the discussion to stop online abuse.

He said: "This is hate data, and there can be no doubt that such private companies are aware of the online hate that they physically own.

"They must be challenged about their custodianship of such hate-filled data. To exclude them from this debate is to ignore the word 'online' in the title of the petition, and to ignore how hate-filled data dominates our lives today."

Concluding his remarks to the committee, the SNP MP issued a "call to arms" to the people in Scotland to participate in a consultation on hate crimes, which is currently ongoing in Holyrood.