SOME quick first impressions of the Channel 4 election debate.
Nicola Sturgeon: she’s fed-up, isn’t she? Tired. How long will she stay after the election? Anas Sarwar: nice guy, good ideas, but are people listening? Willie Rennie: nice guy, good ideas, but are people listening? Patrick Harvie: is he capable of showing any human empathy I wonder? For the people who work in the oil and gas industry for example? And Douglas Ross: oh dear, it’s the age-old problem with the gays, isn’t it?
What seems to have happened in Mr Ross’s case is that, in 2014, he said he would have voted against gay marriage, a fact which he confirmed in the debate. “I said at the time I would have voted against it, just like two of Nicola Sturgeon’s ministers voted against it,” he said. “I have also said that I fully support it. I think marriage is a thing of beauty both for men and women and people of same sex and it’s something we should support.”
Mr Sarwar immediately sought to suggest the comments were part of a bigger problem. Referring to the Tory leader’s remark in 2017 that he wanted tougher enforcement against gypsy travellers, Mr Sarwar said the “cuddly Tories” under Ruth Davidson were long gone. “Not only is Douglas talking about same sex marriage, he’s had to apologise for hateful views against other minority communities,” he said. “We’re back to the same old Tories.”
But we shouldn’t really be surprised by Mr Ross’s comments should we? Personally, I’m bewildered by people who oppose gay marriage, especially conservatives who value state institutions, but Mr Ross was born just three years after homosexuality was legalised in Scotland and grew up in the 80s and 90s when Scotland, and Aberdeenshire in particular, were still pretty conservative places. You’ll remember the Keep the Clause campaign which opposed the repeal of Section 28. You may also remember that one million Scots voted in support of the campaign: one million.
The truth here is that Scotland has always lagged behind on LGBT rights and still does, partly because of its religious history and partly because our socially conservative streak runs through the left as well as the right. England and Wales decriminalised homosexuality in the 60s, but it took Scotland until the 80s to do the same (under a Tory government, interestingly). It was also behind England on the legalisation of gay marriage.
And still, even now, we lag behind. Denmark, Malta, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, Ireland – all of them and more have led the way on LGBT legislation and allow their citizens to identify their own gender. Scotland, however, still has not introduced the change, mainly, possibly entirely, because of anti-progressives within the nationalist movement.
The only question is where they’re lurking now. The recent comments on age of consent by one of Alba’s candidates suggests it may be in Alex Salmond’s party, but most of the prominent nationalist figures who oppose reform on LGBT rights still belong to the SNP. Social conservatism is everywhere basically: Tory, SNP, right-wing, left-wing, Yes supporter, No supporter. Scotland is more conservative than you think.
As for the Conservatives in particular, we should be under no illusions about them. As Anas Sarwar suggested, for a time, under Ruth Davidson, some people thought the Tories were changing, but some interesting analysis this week by the researcher Alex Scholes for What Scotland Thinks suggests it may be working the other way.
Analysing data from the Scottish Attitudes Survey, what Mr Scholes found was that before 2014 there was little sign of a relationship between liberal views and support for independence and the parties, but seven years on, people with liberal views are more likely than those with conservative views to support Yes (probably because of Brexit). Social conservatives have also become more likely to support the Tories. But we’re not talking massive differences here – Mr Scholes found that more than 40% of people with authoritarian or socially conservative views support independence.
The good news in the end, I suppose, is that, however strong the conservative streak still is in Scotland, we appear to be getting better. On gay marriage, opinions have mellowed and a majority of Scots support it. It’s also a good sign that Mr Ross appears to have altered his view. Having grown up in Aberdeenshire in the 80s myself, I understand why Mr Ross may have ended up with the opinions he once held. All I can say to him now is: thank goodness he realises he was wrong. Thank goodness he’s changed his mind.
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