Kate Forbes’s religious views remain the only thing anyone wants to talk about in the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon. I expected as much. Forbes, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, has come under fire for saying that she wouldn’t have voted for same-sex marriage and that she believes children should be born within wedlock. She has stressed that she wouldn’t roll back any existing rights. These are personal articles of faith rather than policy prescriptions. Nevertheless, her views are out of step with Sturgeon’s and those of almost the entire Scottish political firmament.
Her political opponents – inside and outside the SNP – are aghast. A leading SNP figure suggested she withdraw from the race while a gay Labour MSP accused her of having ‘devalued my marriage’. The Scottish media has the scent of blood too. One Sturgeon-aligned red top has splashed Forbes across its front page with the headline ‘Love not Kate’. It editorialises that SNP members ‘must now make it clear to Forbes she is not fit to run their party’.
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