Gay rights group Stonewall faces barrage of criticism for ‘bigot of year’ award given to Keith O’Brien

By CRAIG BROWN
Published on 03/11/2012 01:05

GAY rights campaign group Stonewall has been heavily criticised by both the Catholic Church and the Scottish Government after naming Cardinal Keith O’Brien “bigot of the year”.

The charity was accused by the church of attempting to “vilify” its opponents, while the government described the award as “counter-productive” to its championing of gay rights.

As the row escalated yesterday, Stonewall also came under pressure from two sponsors of the award ceremony – Coutts and Barclays banks – which said they would pull their support if the category was included at next year’s awards.

However, the charity refused to back down and said that naming the cardinal as a bigot on Thursday night was a response to the language he had used during the past year in the debate on moves by the Scottish Government to allow same-sex marriage.

Yesterday, a Catholic Church spokesman said: “Stonewall’s decision to award their ‘bigot of the year’ award to Cardinal O’Brien reveals the depth of their intolerance and their willingness to attack and demean those who don’t share their views.

“Stonewall and others have promoted terms like ‘bigot’ and ‘homophobe’ relentlessly, in order to intimidate and vilify anyone who dares oppose their agenda. It is an agenda which the wider public does not endorse and which their excessive language has undermined.”

The church added that the charity received substantial financial support from public bodies, including the Scottish Government which, in light of these “intolerant and intimidatory tactics”, should now be reviewed “as a matter of urgency”.

Yesterday, the Scottish Government criticised Stonewall’s award as “disrespectful and
discourteous”.

A spokeswoman said: “It is neither useful nor helpful to the cause of equality to describe the leader of a major church in these terms. It is not helpful because in conducting a debate on a hugely important subject like same-sex marriage, the discussions should be carried out in respectful terms at all times by all sides, with courtesy and dignity.”

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who was named politician of the year at Stonewall’s awards ceremony, also criticised the charity’s stance.

Ms Davidson, who is gay, said: “I think it’s important for young people growing up to see that it doesn’t matter your politics, gender or sexuality, there should be no barrier to success.

“This is why I am so supportive of Stonewall’s Role Models leadership programme.

“Where I disagree with Stonewall in these awards is the need to call people names like ‘bigot’. It is simply wrong. The case for equality is far better made by demonstrating the sort of generosity, tolerance and love we would wish to see more of in this world.”

However, Stonewall Scotland director Colin Macfarlane said: “I think given the language used by the cardinal over the past few years and by those other people nominated, I would say bigot is quite a moderate term to use. Stonewall’s task is to shine a light on discrimination.”

He added that the Catholic Church had misinterpreted the award, and that it was not to do with those who opposed equal rights; rather, it was about the language used in expressing their opposition.

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