Why Murdo Fraser's same-sex marriage views are frightening

Another leadership candidate with these views takes us backwards, not forwards. Whatever party they are in, I can say from bitter personal experience, as a queer person, that when someone who seeks to lead a party expresses these views, it hurts – and it’s not just concerning but genuinely frightening.

We live in a time when LGBTQ+ people face increasing threats and marginalisation, at home and abroad. There are many in the Christian (and other religious communities) who are queer and who are working hard to change things from within. There are many who are strong allies and who want to see those within faith communities modernise. They are making a huge difference.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you haven’t read Vicky Beeching’s book, Undivided, it’s absolutely essential reading on this. A properly in-depth and academic look at the Bible, Christianity and being queer. It sets out, in really excellent detail, what the Bible does and does not say and that certain branches of Christianity interpret the text in a more modern way for some things, but not for others, things such as equal marriage.

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I would defend without equivocation the right of anyone to hold a different opinion to me. I will also, however, express my reservations about someone’s fitness to be leader, as I did in the SNP leadership contest, based on whether they plan to govern for everyone and if they hold views compatible with a modern Scotland that will enhance and protect everyone’s rights.

If someone can’t bring themselves to support equal marriage, where might they be in extending and enhancing the rights of trans people who are being actively attacked by so many in the media and society – or what will they do to support the extension of fertility rights and the rights of LGBT+ people to have a family?

I’ve been genuinely pleased to see the journey that Kate Forbes has gone on in her new role, and I hope that the strength of feeling has made her reflect. It certainly seems that way. That’s progress. Some may say it’s not enough, I understand that and wouldn’t necessarily disagree.

However, protesting and speaking out about something, as many of us in the SNP did publicly during the leadership debate, is part of how we make change happen. I wish we hadn’t needed to, but it felt necessary, just as it does now.

A healthy democracy, within political parties and within society, is one where we can challenge and discuss, protest and reflect, disagree and change our minds, or at the

very least, go on a journey. It’s how we progress and without making too crude a link, it’s how we will win independence and be a forward-looking, progressive, independent nation.

Earlier this year, I got married. I got to enjoy the spoils of the hard-won right that those who came before me fought for. I am massively privileged and very conscious of that. I wasn’t even out when equal marriage was brought in. In fact, it’s part of the reason it took me until I was 32 to actually admit to myself, then to others, that I’m a lesbian.

(Image: PA)

Growing up thinking I couldn’t marry or have a home life or family with another woman – not to mention the shame associated with it – had a profound impact on my mental wellbeing and on how I lived my life. In my wedding speech, I reflected on how important it was to me and to my wife, that we were able to be married.

The legalisation and legitimisation, in the eyes of the law and of society, as a married couple – I didn’t expect to feel so strongly that it was something I wanted to do, but it has made a significant difference for us.

I respect that not everyone feels the need for that. In fact, I once attended a dinner with Julia Gillard in the House of Commons. She was asked what her main opposition was to equal marriage. Her response was that “she didn’t want to get married and felt it was an outdated institution”.

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That’s fair enough, I thought, but as a lawmaker and a leader, you always have to balance your own personal views and what might be in the best interest of the country, society and people you are leading.

It’s interesting though that including LGBTQ+ people in equal marriage has modernised the institution itself, and now heterosexual folk can have civil partnerships too.

I recognise the fact that politicians from across the political divide may not believe in equal marriage, but what I have no time for is allowing that to interfere with or cloud their judgement and how they would lead or govern.

In politics, the lines between how your personal views and values impact and shape how you would govern are inevitably blurred. Among it all, though, are a group of people, the LGBTQ+ community, who are becoming increasingly marginalised, used as a proxy, their rights a political football – and honestly, it’s getting very tiring.