Scottish Catholic Observer

Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been criticised by the Catholic Church for promoting ‘gay marriage’ in their manifestos.

The Scottish Labour Party says ‘the time is now’ to consult on options for radically redefining marriage to allow homosexual couples to marry—something which is not at present legal—in its manifesto.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have given their full support to homosexual marriage. In addition, the party wants to allow heterosexual civil partnerships.

Both parties have made the controversial commitments in their official manifestos.

John Deighan, the Scottish Catholic churches parliamentary officer, was fiercely critical of both parties stance.
“What are we going to teach our children at school, that you can marry a man or a woman when you grow up?” he said. “Where on Earth is this all going to end? Are we saying that, for the past few thousand years, Western civilisation has been wrong and because of the lobbying by pressure groups over the past ten years everything should now change?

“There has to be a serious consultation, based on evidence that stacks up. There has to be proper scrutiny of both sides of the argument. Freedom of speech must not be suppressed. You are not wrong or bad or a bigot for speaking out on this issue.”

The position of the Scottish Conservatives on same-sex marriage is unknown. The Scottish National Party says Holyrood doesn’t have the power to change the law, but this is disputed.