John Swinney has hit out at SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes over her opposition to same sex marriage
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The evangelical Christian said she would not have voted for gay marriage in 2014 and claimed having children outside marriage was “wrong according to my faith”. “I think it has been unhelpful that the debate has been focused on the question of faith, because in my view it has got nothing to do with faith.
Two other candidates have also declared – Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and former community safety minister Ash Regan. Scottish politics Richard Lochhead, the just transition minister, u-turned after the gay rights row saying: “I welcomed my colleague Kate Forbes’ decision to join the SNP leadership contest given her talents & felt it would give us a real contest: new ideas and a new approach that we desperately need. However, I agree we can’t have a Party Leader who’d vote against same sex marriage.”
Public Finance Minister Tom Arthur said: “Equal marriage is amongst our Parliament’s greatest achievements and one that I would have been proud to vote for had I been an MSP when it was passed. Consequently, I am unable to continue to support Kate’s campaign.”
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