Kate Forbes comments on sex outside of marriage and defends gay marriage stance
The MSP apologised for any "pain" her comments on gay marriage caused.
Kate Forbes has commented that sex outside marriage is “wrong” alongside her anti-gay marriage stance.
Forbes is a member of the Free Church of Scotland and a candidate for Scottish National Party leadership. She said her views are according to her faith.
However, she said it is entirely up to other people what they do. In an interview with Sky News on Tuesday (21 February), she added: “In a free society you can do what you want”.
Forbes has faced mounting criticism after declaring she would’ve voted against equal marriage laws.
She further worried the LGBTQ community with the statement that marriage is “between a man and a woman.”
The Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch MSP has since apologised for any “pain” her comments have caused.
“I hope that others can be afforded the rights of people of faith to practice fairly mainstream teaching.”
She clarified that she would not “roll back on any rights” if she succeeds Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s First Minister.
Forbes has promised to defend everybody’s right “to live and to love free of harassment and fear.”
Furthermore, she stated: “I hope that others can be afforded the rights of people of faith to practice fairly mainstream teaching.”
“That is the nuance that we need to capture on equal marriage,” she also added.
Out for Independence, an LGBT group affiliated with the SNP said it was “incredibly disappointed” with this leadership campaign’s conduct.
“Over the course of this campaign, our hard-won, long-established basic rights – and, frankly, our very humanity – have been called into question,” they tweeted.
Elsewhere, the Finance Secretary also said double rapist Isla Bryson, who identifies as transgender, “is a man.” Forbes noted: “A rapist cannot be a woman and therefore my straight answer would be that Isla Bryson is a man.”
Later, she said she had “significant concerns” about gender self-identification.
Last month, it emerged that the UK Government is blocking Scotland’s new gender reform legislation. The initial legislation was passed by the Scottish Parliament in December.
The reforms remove the need for a medical diagnosis to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
Sturgeon, an advocate of Scottish independence, described the move as “a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish Parliament.