Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson: 'I didn't want to be gay... I'm not sure many people do'

Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson has spoken out about her Church of Scotland upbringing and her struggle to come to terms with her sexuality.

In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Stark Talk, the 36-year-old poltician spoke candidly on several topics, including her coming out journey and her faith.

Davidson had known she was gay for a few years before coming out in her twenties, but prior to that, she’d assumed she would have “the big white wedding and the chap on my arm and all the rest of it”.

She also revealed that she had a hard time reading about homosexuality in the Bible. “To read Paul’s letter to various churches around the globe talking about ‘homosexual offenders’ – the phrase in the international version – and talking about idolaters and adulterers and thieves being ranked together was very, very difficult,” she said.

Lots more in this radio i/v than made the papers. Love, life, loss, childhood, ageing, body image & broken bones. https://t.co/diFpgTOPrG

— Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC) November 5, 2015

Davidson added, “It took time for me to come to some sort of peace with myself about it. It’s something I struggled with. I didn’t want to be gay. I’m not sure how many people do. It’s been amazing the difference, even in my lifetime, how things have changed.

“I struggled with it for a number of years actually before I would admit it to myself, never mind to anybody else.

“But there comes a point at which you make a decision and that decision is either that you’re going to live a lie for the rest of your life, or you’re going to trust yourself, and that’s what I had to do.”

Listen to the entire interview here.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson: ‘I didn’t want to be gay… I’m not sure many people do’

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