Scotland turns out to boo Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Cabinet over same sex marriage, Catholic Church escalates on-going campaign from the pulpit

Dear All

Last week saw the SNP Cabinet visit Renfrew and hundreds of people turned out to boo Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Cabinet.

Hundreds of people!

Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish Government ducked into the event by way of a side door.

As you can see by the picture Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t appear to be happy, I don’t think she is bothered by the fact that people dislike her, but rather that people dislike her and prepared to do so publicly in the full glare of the press.

From the footage of the event inside, the SNP Cabinet looked distinctly uneasy sitting in their chairs.

Hundreds of people were booing Nicola Sturgeon over the campaign she led to legalise same sex marriage despite a majority responding to the consultation by the Government, who didn’t want the law changed, their protests came to nothing.

The banners say it all, ‘SNP not listening’, SNP ignored 64%, and ‘public snubbed by SNP’.

And that is the truth.

The majority were always going to be ignored by Nicola Sturgeon et al, the consultation I always thought would be a sham, and low and behold it was a sham.

George Laird was right again.

In an escalation Nicola Sturgeon is also effectively persona non grata with Cardinal Keith O’Brien; communication is only through officials on same sex marriage now.

But things aren’t improving; the Catholic Church has gone further as Catholic worshippers heard criticism of the Scottish Government’s gay marriage plans at Sunday services.

Priests took the unusual step of reading out loud a letter from leading bishops, a letter, which was read in all of Scotland’s 500 Catholic parishes. In effect the letter calls for followers to continue to act against efforts to “redefine” marriage.

And it is only a matter of time before the Catholic Church makes this issue as a defining reason in the independence referendum as they say they aren’t going away.

Unfortunately, the SNP leadership has misjudged the mood of the people who believe in God, God comes before Salmond and Sturgeon.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Scotland’s most senior Catholic churchman was absolutely right to break off discussions on the issue with First Minister Alex Salmond.

Church and State shouldn’t mix; Salmond and Sturgeon have crossed a line.

And for them there is no turning back, which will have an effect on their future hopes and dreams.

Cardinal O’Brien said:

“The church’s teaching on marriage is unequivocal. It is uniquely the union of a man and a woman and it is wrong that governments, politicians or parliaments should seek to alter or destroy that reality.”

He added:

“While we pray that our elected leaders will sustain rather than subvert marriage, we promise to continue to do everything we can to convince them that redefining marriage would be wrong for society.”

I think we can safely say that the Catholic Church will become vocal and there will be more protests in the pipeline and of course public booing of SNP Ministers which doesn’t bode well for the independence campaign.

Nicola Sturgeon said after announcing the government’s plans:

“In a country that aspires to be an equal and tolerant society, this is the right thing to do”.

Maybe she could practice what she preaches in her own party.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University