Bisexual politician Patrick Harvie called ‘deviant’ by heckler during BBC interview
Harvie labelled the heckler a "bigot" in response
By Dale Fox
Bisexual Scottish politican Patrick Harvie has been heckled while giving a TV interview, with a bystander calling the Scottish Greens co-leader a “deviant”.
The incident occurred on Tuesday (22 August) during an interview segment for BBC News Scotland.
The bystander’s repeated interruptions prompted the politician to respond by labelling him a “bigot”.
BBC political correspondent David Wallace Lockhart, who was interviewing Harvie, said on air afterwards: “It was quite unpleasant. I’ve done a lot of these interviews – it became quite hostile.”
The incident was “an unpleasant situation handled in a dignified manner” Lockhart added on Twitter.
Though not broadcast live, the BBC chose to show the incident on its evening news program.
Harvie told BBC News after: “The fact is there are some pretty toxic forces in politics at the moment that have unleashed homophobia and transphobia in a way that we haven’t seen in many, many years.
“Those who have cultivated this nasty kind of culture war against minorities need to take responsibility for verbal abuse like that, but also for violence that we’ve seen rising against LGBT+ people.”
“Utterly deplorable”
The Rainbow Greens association wrote on Twitter: “This is utterly deplorable. We stand in solidarity with our friend and Co-Leader @patrickharvie and we are devastated to hear of this disgusting behaviour. The bigot who made these comments should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.”
This is utterly deplorable.
— Rainbow Greens (@rainbowgreens) August 22, 2023
We stand in solidarity with our friend and Co-Leader @patrickharvie and we are devastated to hear of this disgusting behaviour.
The bigot who made these comments should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. https://t.co/wRCPfHw0OP
According to BBC News, a Scottish Greens spokesperson said the party planned to report the incident to police.
Patrick Harvie is the first openly bisexual leader of a political party in the United Kingdom. He has been co-leader of the Scottish Green Party since 2008.
He actively campaigned for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, which Scotland achieved when passing the Marriage and Civil Partnership Act in 2014.
Harvie also called for an automatic pardon for men convicted of same-sex sexual activity that is now legal. This led to a formal apology issued by the Scottish government in 2017. He has also supported reforming the Gender Recognition Act to simplify the process for transgender people to gain legal recognition.