Humanists Welcome Holyrood Stance on Catholic Homophobia

KENILWORTH, 2 MAY 2005 — The UK-based Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has warmly welcomed the reaction of Scottish politicians to the homophobic rantings of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland.

The Cardinal used his address at Holyrood’s four-minute prayer slot Time for Reflection to attack gays, claiming they were “captives to ... sexual aberrations” and comparing them to prisoners in Edinburgh’s Saughton jail who were waiting to be “set free”.

Scottish politicians reacted by signing a motion put by Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who is a member of the Humanist Society of Scotland. His motion condemning O’Brien’s “gratuitous insult” attracted cross-party support.

MSPs have acted to prevent a repeat of this by tightening the rules for speakers at Time for Reflection. They have clamped down on offensive religious contributions by revising the guidelines to read: “[Contributions] will be consistent with the principle of equal opportunities for all and should not include remarks or comments which are discriminatory.”

Commenting on the MSPs’ stance, GALHA’s Scottish spokesperson Dave Gilmour said: “This is a welcome slap in the face for the Cardinal. It’s great to find politicians prepared to stand up to religious homophobia of this sort and take practical steps to curb it. It’s also good to know that the initiative came from a humanist. It’s a great pity that New Labour MPs can’t emulate their Scottish counterparts instead of always kowtowing to religionists as they have done over anti-discrimination employment regulations and civil partnership legislation.

“The Cardinal is obviously following in the footsteps of his predecessor, the late ultra-homophobic Thomas Winning, and demonstrating that under the authority of Pope Benedict XVI there will be no let-up on Catholic hostility to gay relationships and gay rights.”