The race to see who will replace Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s first minister is heating up with the two leading candidates presenting very different values as they make their pitches to party colleagues.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced she was stepping down from the leadership role last week having led the Scottish Nationalist Party for 8 years. In recent months Sturgeon had been under pressure over the party’s push for gender self ID laws and a renewed push for Scottish independence.

In contention for the leadership position is finance minister Kate Forbes and health secretary Humza Yousaf and they have diametrically opposed views on LGBTIQA+ rights.

Forbes has said that if she is elected leader, she will not challenge the UK government’s block of the recently passed transgender self ID laws. Forbes has outlined that she is personally opposed to allowing transgender people to change gender via a self-ID process and remains opposed to marriage equality.

Yousaf, who has emerged as the front runner, has told a press conference that he backs Sturgeon’s position on same-sex marriage, abortion clinic buffer zones, gender recognition, and banning conversion therapy practices. He says he will “absolutely” challenge Westminster’s attempt to stop the transgender self-ID laws from being passed.

Ash Regan, a third contender for the leadership position has been described by political analysts of having little hope of attracting significant votes. He is also opposed to transgender self-ID and quit Sturgeon’s government in protest over the recently passed bill. Following Forbes statement about marriage, Regan released a statement declaring he fully supported same-sex marriage.

Senior party figures have been urged the leadership candidates to discuss other issues beyond transgender recognition, warning that there is a growing hostility towards transgender people in the country. The Greens, who are in a power sharing arrangement with the party have warned that failing to defend the transgender self-ID laws may put their political partnership in jeopardy.

Forbes, who is an evangelical Christian, has said she would defend everyone’s rights if she elected leader.

“In a pluralistic, tolerant society, I will defend to the hilt everybody’s rights to live and to love free of harassment and fear. I would hope that I might be afforded the same freedom and the same right to believe and practice fairly mainstream views that are actually common across the mainstream religions, in terms of Islam and so on.”

Yousaf, who is Muslim, said his track record showed that he made decision that were in the best interests of the country.

“People can look at my track record, but I don’t legislate on the basis of my faith. I do what I think is the best for the country.” he said.

Following Forbes comments outlining her opposition to marriage equality many of her backers have distanced themselves from her or withdrawn their support.

The politician told the BBC said she was undeterred in her leadership campaign saying the public were “longing for a politician to answer straight questions with straight answers.”

Forbes said she strongly believed that having sex outside marriage was wrong, and children should not be born out of wedlock.

OIP Staff

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