SUPPORTERS of Humza Yousaf have complained to SNP HQ after Joanna Cherry shared a tweet claiming the Health Secretary wanted to sterilise gay children.
The MP - who is a prominent backer of Ash Regan - said she had retweeted the comment from Wings Over Scotland accidentally.
It has since been deleted.
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Mhairi Hunter, a former Glasgow councillor who works for outgoing First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, accused the MP of trying to “derail this leadership contest.”
“Can see no other explanation for such an incendiary act. Suggest we don't let her,” she added.
She said she had complained to National Secretary Lorna Finn.
I can only assume Joanna Cherry wants to derail this leadership contest. Can see no other explanation for such an incendiary act. Suggest we don't let her. Make a complaint to Nat Sec if you are a member. I shall. But let us not get dragged into the gutter.
— Mhairi Hunter 🇺🇦 🏴 (@MhairiHunter) March 6, 2023
Earlier on Monday, Mr Yousaf tweeted a commitment to ban conversion practices and to embed LGBTQ+ rights in an independent Scotland’s constitution.
Wings Over Scotland claimed the SNP minister “wants to trans gay and autistic kids, sterilise them and deprive them of sexual pleasure for their entire adult life.”
Ms Cherry retweeted it, commenting “Currently #LGBT rights are protected under the #EqualityAct along with sex-based rights, disability religion & belief etc. In 2014 @theSNP promised to enshrine anti-discrimination laws for all protected characteristics in the constitution of an #indy Scotland.”
She then deleted that tweet and then shared Mr Yousaf’s original tweet with the same comment.
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A spokesman for Ms Cherry said: “Joanna had intended to comment on a tweet by Humza Yousaf and made a mistake when doing so. She has corrected that mistake.
“The only people attempting to 'derail' the contest are those trying to prevent an open debate and a free and frank exchange of views.
“Ms Hunter may make a complaint to the National Secretary if she wishes. Joanna is still waiting for a response from the National Secretary to Joanna's complaint in January 2021 over a defamatory letter about Joanna in which Mhairi Hunter participated during the NEC elections in November 2020.”
In a statement, Mr Yousaf did not criticise Ms Cherry directly, instead condemning Wings Over Scotland. He said: "The language used in the blog is discriminatory, hurtful and damaging to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
"Members of the trans community especially are some of the most vulnerable and marginalised individuals in our society and all politicians and commentators would be minded to remember that.
"As SNP Leader and Scotland's first minister, I will protect our LGBTQ+ community and strengthen and celebrate their rights."
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Responding to the Health Secretary's remarks, Stuart Campbell, who runs Wings Over Scotland said: "Humza Yousaf is a doubleplusgood duckspeaker, but he clearly has no clue what he means by 'conversion therapy'.
"The report produced for the Scottish Government by a carefully-handpicked bunch of transactivists and Queer Theorists is a one-way express road to the 'transing' of every confused gay, autistic or troubled child in Scotland.
"As absurd as it sounds, it will make it a criminal offence to come up with any potential answer to your child's problems other than that they're trans.
"Of all the Scottish Government's most disastrous pieces of legislation - Named Person, the Hate Crime Bill, the Gender Recognition Reform bill and the Deposit Return Scheme - the ban on so-called 'conversion therapy (actually just normal, responsible mental health care) has the potential to be by far the most damaging and destructive of young people's lives.
"At a time when many governments across the world are pausing or reversing incredibly dangerous policies on "gender", it is criminally and appallingly reckless, and no amount of vacuous boilerplate sloganising from Humza Yousaf will change that."
An SNP spokesperson said: "We've been clear that this is a contest for SNP members to choose their leader, without being influenced by external bad faith actors. Members will be disgusted to see this hate-filled attack on the only minority candidate in the contest."
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