Travellers, disabled people and transgender people face "disproportionately high levels of prejudice" in Scotland, according to a human rights body.
While there is "some evidence that Scotland has become more open and accepting, there remains a distinct gap between perception and reality", a report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission finds.
It has launched a consultation to create Scotland's first national action plan for human rights, designed to "fill the gaps" in human rights protection, involving public bodies, civil society and others.
The consultation is accompanied by a report entitled Getting It Right? Human Rights In Scotland.
The report states: "Although some progress has been made in recent years in relation to the promotion of equality across a wide range of sectors of Scottish society, discriminatory attitudes have not reduced consistently.
"Attitudes towards gay and lesbian people have improved but there remain high levels of discriminatory attitudes towards, among others, transgender people and Gypsy/Travellers.
"Likewise, disabled people appear to face a disproportionately high level of prejudice."
Political decisions to manage the economic crisis "are threatening the realisation of human rights", the report says.
Professor Alan Miller, chair of the commission, said: "What we've found in this study is that while Scotland has made notable progress in a number of areas, it can do better. Crucially the research has shown that while there are some good high-level policies and strong legislation, the realisation of human rights doesn't always happen in people's day-to-day lives.
"More needs to be done to ensure that human rights are consistently upheld in areas like housing, healthcare, social care, education and in the justice system. There is much more that could be done to bring Scotland up to internationally recognised standards of enjoyment of human rights."
