Now Christian SNP hopeful says it’s wrong to have children out of wedlock
THE devout Christian running for the SNP leadership yesterday said that having children outside of wedlock was wrong.
Kate Forbes, 32, briefly became the bookies’ favourite when she launched her bid on Monday to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as first minister.
But the finance secretary quickly lost the support of at least four members of the Scottish parliament over her opposition to samesex marriage. As anger began to mount she had to apologise twice on-air yesterday afternoon for the ‘hurt and offence’ she caused.
She had deepened the row earlier when asked by Sky News for her views on children outside marriage. The mother of one said: ‘It’s something that I would seek to avoid for me personally, but it doesn’t fuss me the choices that other people make.’
Pressed on whether it was right or wrong, she said: ‘In terms of my faith, my faith would say that sex is for marriage and that’s the approach I would practise.’
Ms Forbes, who is a member of the deeply conservative Free Church of Scotland, insisted she accepted family and friends who had children out of wedlock and ‘celebrated those lives that have been brought into the world’.
She also repeated her ‘significant concerns’ about the Scottish government’s flagship policy of allowing people as young as 16 to self-identify as the opposite sex, a move passed while she was on maternity leave.
Addressing the row that led to the downfall of Ms Sturgeon, she said transgender rapist Isla Bryson ‘is a man’. But her comments about gay marriage on Monday led to the biggest backlash.
Ms Forbes tried to defend her stance in a fresh round of interviews, stressing she respected the law and insisting religious people had a right to hold public office. ‘In this country equal marriage is a legal right, and I am a servant of democracy. I am not a dictator. I respect and defend that democratic choice to the hilt,’ she told Times Radio.
But as she faced a backlash from her SNP colleagues, she had to apologise for ‘the pain or hurt that has been caused’.
Asked by the BBC if her campaign was over before it began, she replied: ‘Absolutely not. I understand people have very strong views on these matters.’
When Ms Forbes’s unofficial campaign manager Ivan McKee was asked by Channel 4 News if he still endorsed her, he would only say: ‘I’m going to talk to Kate later on about the campaign.’
Ms Forbes was forced to apologise
for a second time as outrage continued to mount throughout the afternoon.
She told ITV News: ‘I unequivocally apologise for any hurt and offence that has been caused.’
At least four early SNP supporters of her campaign withdrew their backing in the wake of the row.
Children’s minister Clare Haughey said: ‘I absolutely and completely support equal marriage. I am unequivocal on this issue. I cannot continue to support Kate’s leadership campaign.’
MSPs Tom Arthur, Gillian Martin and Richard Lochhead also withdrew support for Ms Forbes.
Last night there was increasing speculation that Ms Forbes would pull out of the race, which would leave transgender reform rebel Ash Regan as the only declared opponent to Mr Yousaf.
‘My faith would say sex is for marriage’