The Scottish Government has been conducting a consultative process on its intention to institute marriage equality by legislating to lift the ban on same-sex marriage in Scotland. Such legislation will enable same-sex couples to register as a married couple, whilst today they are restricted to a “civil partnership.”
But the most organized and vociferous campaign against same-sex marriage has been headed by the Scottish Catholic Church — its leader, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has recently said that same-sex marriage will be “forfeiting the trust” of the nation, and “shaming Scotland in the eyes of the world.”
O’Brien has further argued that “all children deserve to begin life with a mother and father, the evidence in favor of the stability and well being which this provides is overwhelming and unequivocal.”
Asked by Pink News UK to substantiate this “evidence,” the Catholic Church of Scotland provided discredited research studies propagated by anti-LGBT hate groups based in the USA.
One of the studies was by Paul Cameron, who argued in a 1998 paid for publication that same-sex relationships “lead to shorter life expectancies” which further compares homosexuality to “tobacco addiction” claiming it “damages health” in a similar way.
Cameron’s peculiar theories have been completely discredited as valid “research”. Cameron was deregistered and denounced by the American Psychological Association in 1983, by the Nebraska Psychological Association in 1984, and the American Sociological Association in 1985 and 1986. In 2007 the president of the Eastern Psychological Association publicly chided Cameron, who stated he “presented” a manuscript before their convention.
Patrick Harvie, Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) and co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party who is openly bisexual and longtime adovocate of LGBTQ Rights, told LGBTQ Nation he was disappointed that “the Catholic Church uses discredited research to back their view point.”
He added that the “Scottish government will discount evidence based on flawed research of this nature.” Such a campaign seems to have been imported from the U.S. where “there is a more long running anti-equality campaign, and it is puzzling to me that the Catholic Church of Scotland uses these arguments rather than philosophical or moral ones.”
“We know that a majority of Catholics are in favor of same sex marriage as this has been confirmed by two Scottish social attitude surveys (2006, 2010) sponsored by the Scottish Government,” said Tim Hopkins, Director of the Equality Network, a national organization working for LGBT rights and equality in Scotland.
“The surveys found that over 50 percent of Catholics support same-sex marriage and only 20-30 percent are opposed. So even within the Catholic Church in Scotland the majority of its followers do not agree with the position the Church and the Cardinal have taken,” Hopkins said.
The 2010 survey further found that 61 percent of the Scottish public at large support same-sex marriage.
Some leaders within the Catholic Church of Scotland have also threatened that parties who support of same-sex marriage will alienate Catholic voters, but according to Hopkins, this seems unlikely.
“The Catholic Church has had historically quite a strong influence on politics in Scotland, traditionally on the Scottish Labour Party,” he said. However, Glasgow City Council, largely controlled by Labour with a majority of councilors who identify as Catholics, has recently voted unanimously to support same-sex marriage.
Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell said, “The Catholic leadership is actively seeking to maintain discrimination. It is out of touch with the majority of Scottish and UK people. Nearly two-thirds support marriage equality. Most ordinary, grassroots Catholics reject homophobic discrimination.”
The Scottish Government has completed its consultation and will now analyze the feedback and publish their response in spring along with a draft bill, which will be open for discussion and amendment until it put to vote probably at end of 2013.
Filed under: Europe
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oh those Catholics
HELLO ROME!! It’s the 21st century! get with the program!
Shouldn’t they be cowering in fear from the law due to all their child abuse allegations???
Regarding morality, the Catholic Church doesn’t establish respectable credibility.
WTF SMDH
Leave too them!!
The returned Christ has taken there authority away and soon there will be equality for gay and lesbian and transgender community see RA-EL.org where love one another and love the spark of life or god rains supreme
they’re so funny.
The Catholic Church has no authority to tell anyone about sexual ethics
Suck it up
i love christians, but their morals suck
As a lesbian Scottish woman, I’d like to say that Cardinal Keith is a bloody bawbag! I hope Santa leaves coal on your doorstep, ya wee shite.
^ that was cute
Kirstie, I didn’t understand a damned thing you said but I think I loved it!!! Lol
Lol. Thank you.
No. My religion needs to stop.
We should start a campaign to deny the validity of Catholic marriages.
Get the Catholic Church out of their misery and ignore them…Bunch of Hypocrists….
Whatever happened to “seperation of Church and State”?
How gay. Lol
I find this to be rich seeing that homosexuality dates back to the early days of ‘catholic ism’ society needs to stop trying to conform people. It only makes us (the LGBT community) rebels with a cause.
New commercial on television for the Catholic Church.
An invitation to come Home.
Have A
Safe journey home.
O’Brien is a completely clueless twat!
fuck off catholic church. you know, if they put that much energy into saving starving children, actual GOOD work would get done. “shaming scotland” hahaha how about those raping little boys incident, Cardinal? talk about shame!
how the frig is it going to shame the nation when everyone else is doing it as well. gotta love ‘em. can’t get what you want so you lie like a bad bear skin rug….shame!
Why is it not ok for 2 men to marry or 2 woman. But its ok that cathloic priest having sex with boys?
The Catholic Church is the corporation more intolerant murderous and destructive that historically has existed.
Their ideology is an ideology of hatred and war and an altarpiece of lies, cheating, contradictions, deceits and absurdities built for the sole purpose of annulling denigrating the intelligence and the reason.
The Christian morality is like chloroform that neutralizes the pleasure and the imagination, to make our bodies our nearest enemy and to switch the truth into submission.
The Papacy is an emissary of torture and lies, a puppet of the interests of the fascist Vatican state.
The higher clergy is a band of social parasites, eager of power and plunder.
The faithful Catholics are a humanity deceived, for whom I have solidarity and compassion.
All victims of religious terrorism are a definitive proof of its guilt.
The Catholic Church has put to death millions of individuals, has collaborated to the spread of HIV / AIDS per their negative to authorize Catholics the use of condoms.
They do practice Symbiotic relationships of all kinds of totalitarianism, to encourage them, to justify and prostitutes before them.
They bless the murderers and tyrants.
They proclaimed holy crusades against women and men who have doubted its truth.
They enslave the weak, flatter the generals and the leaders, promote hatred of the body, happiness and pleasure, insult the intelligence and intended to impose its absurd and primitive theology.
They use gender hierarchies, relationships and feelings, according to the sinister moral they practice.
They impose their phobias as sacred commandments, systematically attacking individual and collective freedoms.
They plunder the people, relentlessly and with impunity, through its diplomatic agreements, concordats and their alliances with political power.
They abuse children, fornicate with them, they are lying and abusing the humanity.
They discriminate, they cover up for pedophiles.
They created the Inquisition.
They light fires that have not yet ceased to burn.
They despise science and knowledge.
They torture, massacre and hide the historical truth.
They manipulate the collective memory.
They perpetuate their ideology, injecting it into children’s minds. And abetting, conspiracy, falsifying and using violence to impose their pathological delusions.
I think its time we campaign against catholics and their tax exemption status.
What shames Scotland and other countrries is that they don’t have human rigihts for all people.
Legalizing same sex marriage will put Scotland in league with nations who have weighed in on the right side of love and the right side of history. Of course the church is fighting it. The church has never been on the right side of either until after love and history have triumphed over it. It’s one of the ways Scotland can be sure it’s doing the right thing.
the catholic pedophile church shames the world as it is
Self-righteous hypocrites who have no idea what true Christianity is all about. Obviously they don’t care what Jesus would do.
I believe this will happen. Scots have almost always been on the side of personal freedom!
Well I guess they need something to divert their child sex scandal
i’ve been saying that since three catholic hospitals fuc’d me over i trusted them and got shafted simply cause of my gender even learned new word i had never heard before..ABOMINATION..hell didn’t have a clue to what it meant had to ask my caretaker..guess they didn’t like who i was..I’ll never trust another CATHOLIC HOSPITAL as long as I live..they shipped me up to Denver why they did is beyond me..that Friday morning went in for op. Sunday morning Dr. said discharge him no damned res[ect @ all then attempted to put me in HOMELESS SHELTER..when Dr. promised me a ride back to Trinidad had to call my caretaker to come get me 4hrs each way..now if he wants to talk about trust then maybe he should wake up and smell the pretty flowers cause he’s living in a fantasy world. <3
Scotland – don’t you believe him. You will be not be shamed by taking a stand for equality for all. You will be proud that Scots continue to take independent stands for what is right.
The Catholic Church fails to see that THEY’RE shaming themselves in the eyes of the world. What Scotland is doing is a good thing.
The SHAME is on the Catholic Church.
@John and Toly: Not all child molesters are pedophiles, and not all pedophiles are child molesters. The correct word to use would be child molester, in cases such as these.
@ kristie Mcclure It does not say anywhere in the writting “All” it said “Covers for” before making a correction I would advice you to read and understand the whole article
leave it to the catholics
@Toly: I know that. But you said they cover up for pedophiles. Not all cases of child molestation are done by pedophiles. Therefore, your terminology was incorrect.
Seems the Catholic church has forgotten how we Scots dealt with them in the past when they were a nuisance.
I think the Catholic Church has already “forfeited the trust” of the nation, and “shamed in the eyes of the world.”
Booooo!
If the Roman Catholic Church continues to interfere in civil affairs, perhaps it’s time to restore The Penal Laws instituted during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
This is why the Catholic Church can’t tell me anything, why should I listen to a bunch of child rapists? My very catholic mother even gave me the whole “you could be excommunicated for being gay and catholic” line. First of all, who (from the church) is going to find out I’m gay? And secondly, do they excommunicate all the men molesting children? I don’t think so.
And to yet another reason why the catholic church is losing support and decreasing in population. Don’t they see that fighting this just makes them look worse??
@Kristie Mcclure: According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) of the American Psychiatric Association a pedophile is a person who:
Over a period of at least 6 months experiences recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally 13 years of age or younger).
The person has acted on these sexual urges or the sexual urges or fantasies cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulties.
The person is at least 16 years of age and at least 5 years older that the prepubscent child.
A major difference between a pedophile and a child molester is that the primary source of sexual gratification comes from being sexual with prepubscent children. This is not true of the child molester whose primary source of sexual gratification comes from being sexual with an age appropriate consenting adult.
Go scotland-do the right thing!
@Toly: I see you’ve been copy pasting info. Your terminology was still wrong. It states the difference at the bottom. Not all children will be raped or molested for sexual gratification or because the rapist is genuinely attracted to them. Try reading up more, hun.
@Kristie Mcclure, Of course is copied info from the DSM-IV-TR but whatever, The Catholic Church covers for Pedophiles. I will not waste my time arguing with you Ms, Wiccan, Sanguinarian (human who drinks blood)/Christian ….hmmmmm (Your own words in your profile)
End of discussion. Have a good night.
o shit. It’s the Church getting into politics, Wat duh hell happened to Separation of Church and State!
May I remind all my LGBT friends WORLD WIDE, that the best defence is a good OFFENSE. The more offensive the Roman Catholic Church is, the more LGBTs ought to promote web sites like mine which expose the Roman Catholic church for the fraud which it is . Check out http://JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/ and imagine how Catholic bishops will react when they see their FALSE arguments against LGBTs resulting in TRUE arguments being published everywhere about their PHONY “Holy Catholic Church”.