It is proper that the rights of minorities in Scotland are discussed and progressed through parliamentary and public consultation processes (Letters, March 9 & 12).
The privately funded, purported referendum about the abolition of Section 28 should serve as a cautionary tale about the hostility and prejudice such an initiative can stir up against a part of society.
All of the parties represented in the Holyrood Parliament, with the exception of the Scottish Conservatives, pledged their support for same-sex marriage during the election campaign last May. The people had an opportunity to express a view on the issue then, as many did in writing to candidates to ascertain their views, and ultimately in deciding who to vote for. If adhering to election promises is not democratic, what is?
Since then an initial consultation on whether the Scottish Government should legislate for same-sex marriage has taken place, garnering more responses than any such exercise in the history of the Scottish Parliament. The Government is busy analysing over 50,000 responses; if it decides to go ahead with legislation on same-sex marriage there will be a further consultation on the detail of any bill, which will undoubtedly engage thousands of people across Scottish society on the topic for the second time. This is democracy in action.
Colin Macfarlane,
Director, Stonewall Scotland,
Mansfield Traquair Centre,
Edinburgh.
Tim Hopkins misses the central point of my letter to which he kindly responds, which was that equating same-sex couples with heterosexual couples is contrary to reason (Letters, March 12.).
He fails to distinguish the support he claims for religious bodies to do what they want in their own places of worship; and the influence of religious values in society.
I agree with him on the first point, that the freedom of religious bodies should be respected within the bounds of just laws.
On the second point he confuses the acceptance that marriage is between a man and a woman in civil law with it being "an attempt by the Catholic Church to impose its specific rules on marriage".
The Catholic Church on this latter point simply supports reason and civil law should be built on reason.
John Deighan,
Parliamentary Officer,
Catholic Parliamentary Office,
5 St Vincent Place,
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article