OPINION: Kate Forbes stands accused for giving honest answers
It did not take long for the media feeding frenzy – both traditional and new – to begin following the launch of the SNP leadership race.
It was triggered into its full and unabashed mania by Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes’ responses given in a BBC Scotland interview later in the same day that she announced her candidacy.
She told the broadcaster that she would not have voted for Holyrood’s equal marriage legislation had she been an MSP at the time nor for the recent Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in its current form had she not been on maternity leave.
It was hardly revelatory news given that her Free Church faith is well-known.
She could have squirmed like a worm but instead provided candid answers to direct questions – something refreshing after the recent years of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister & Co.
She also explained the reasons for her points of views and put them into rational context.
Ms Forbes said that there was ‘no question’ that she defended the legal right to equal marriage and that questions about whether she would have voted against that right were ‘hypothetical’.
Clearly, she was always going to be grilled early on the leadership campaign trail over her faith and issues which did not sit comfortably with her religious upbringing.
And yet some of her SNP colleagues who had backed her just a short time earlier – and who certainly would have known of her beliefs as they have never been a closely guarded secret – could not bale out fast enough.
The real shock from all of this was how quickly some stepped aside and disowned her at the first bump in the road. A day – nevermind a week – is a long time in politics especially in this day and age of 24/7 news and social media.
Maybe Ms Forbes’ offence was daring to share her religious values aloud – some far out of step with the Westminster and Holyrood bubbles.
But does that mean if she was to become SNP party leader and ergo First Minister that she is going to neglect or even punish people and sections of the community who do not share her beliefs?
Hardly. We are at risk of losing many talented people by dismissing them because they do not share our own perspective and views.
Scotland has made great strides – more than the vast majority of the world – on equality but are we now going to effectively banish people from the highest public office on the grounds of their religious beliefs.
It would not be tolerated on any of the other protected characteristics and nor should it be in this case.
