Marwick under fire for praising head of 'homophobic' Mormon university

Published on Wednesday 20 July 2011 15:47

THE Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament has been criticised for praising a talk at Holyrood from the head of an American university whose college has described homosexuality as "inappropriate."

A controversial decision to allow Cecil Samuelson, president of Brigham Young University - which is owned and run by the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - to deliver the parliament's Time For Reflection speech sparked fury from MSPs last month.

A Freedom of Information request by The Scotsman has revealed that, after Mr Samuelson had given the talk at Holyrood, Tricia Marwick, the Presiding Officer, wrote to the university head thanking him for his "excellent contribution".

During his address to MSPs, Mr Samuelson had said his privately run university accepted people from "vastly different backgrounds",

But Green MSP Patrick Harvie, speaking immediately after the talk, said that the parliament had handed a platform to the head of an "institutionally homophobic academic institution".

Yesterday, Mr Harvie said: "It's frustrating to see that the Presiding Officer still supports the decision to invite such an inappropriate speaker to address Holyrood.

"Mr Samuelson leads a homophobic institution, and parliament should not have given him this platform. The whole basis for Time For Reflection now needs to be reviewed."

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said Ms Marwick's letter was a "simple common courtesy".