The executive editor of a gay magazine has accused the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics of "systematic hate-mongering" against gay people.
Alex Hopkins, executive editor of Beige Magazine, defended the pressure group Stonewall's decision to name Cardinal Keith O'Brien its "bigot of the year".
"I think it's an ironic, very witty way of highlighting the systematic hate-mongering from O'Brien and the rest of the Catholic Church which has been consistently levelled at gay people," Mr Hopkins told BBC Radio Scotland.
"It's been relentless. Their vitriol seems to have gone off the scale."
Mr Hopkins claimed the Cardinal has been consistently dehumanising gay people. "I don't recall a gospel comparing gay people to paedophiles," he said.
Speaking of the Stonewall award, he added: "This category has existed many years in the past since the awards began.
"It's not about labelling someone who disagrees with them. It's about highlighting someone who is systematically abusing gay people in a way that infiltrates their psyche and is hugely damaging.
"The kind of language that O'Brien is using we can't underestimate the effect."
A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "Intimidatory hyperbole like this is designed to stifle debate and silence opponents. As Stonewall's inflammatory award has shown, it tends to do the opposite. Gay rights groups campaigning for same-sex marriage are wrong. Screaming insults at the majority of the population further undermines their credibility."
New research has revealed that one in four young gay people in England have been assaulted because of their sexuality, while more than half have self-harmed.
Meanwhile, a leading member of the Roman Catholic clergy in France has spoken out against same-sex marriage. Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois has said he believes allowing it would profoundly affect the balance of French society.
It comes as Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives who criticised Stonewall's use of the word bigot against the cardinal as she accepted its politician of the year award on Thursday, has been named as one of Britain's most influential lesbians in the annual Pink List.
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