As a registered charity, the Christian Institute received donations to help it promote its particular brand of “Christian values” receiving a staggering £496,581 as “gifts” in 2000. Its deputy director, Simon Calvert pounced on two “offensive books” in a Strathclyde University teaching programme. Calvert claimed: “These books are guaranteed to stoke up an interest in children in sexual matters they would otherwise not have had” and insisted; “children aged 10 were being given inappropriate sex education”. In a report in The Falkirk Herald, Falkirk Council was “slammed” for “promoting sex in schools” and very soon, morally conservative Labour councillors were attacking the work of parliamentary members of their own Party as they set about repealing Section 28. In the council chambers at Falkirk a debate raged over whether or not they should debate Section 28 at all before Falkirk’s Provost, Dennis Goldie got his way. He even dipped into his own pocket to pay for the hire of the Town Hall in Falkirk for a summit meeting, smugly informing The Falkirk Herald “he spoke for the vast majority of people in Falkirk”. Before opening proceedings had begun, Provost Goldie was already speaking out against repeal and read what he described as “facts” from The Daily Record. The minister of Grahamston United Church leapt to his feet to remind Goldie: “As chairman of the meeting you should remain impartial”. A parent lashed out: “I’ve got two kids and I feel it’s my duty to teach them good moral and Christian values. You can call me a bigot if you like but I’ve no time whatsoever for these homosexuals”. Alastair Horne, minister at the St. Andrew’s West Church in Falkirk, said he strongly commended the council for voting against repeal, saying, “The Bible was clearly against homosexuality”. One young gay lad in the audience bravely spoke up to say: “opponents of the plans should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves”. All the same, a show of hands, taken at the end of the meeting, showed the vast majority of the 100-strong crowd - which included a handful of schoolchildren - were clearly in support of Dennis Goldie and the council. Whilst emphasising how much he abhorred discrimination and wasn’t homophobic, at the Policy Committee, Goldie voted against repeal in what turned out to be a very close call: Four to three against. Militant religionists had tasted blood.

By now, the debate was already spilling out of council chambers into pubs, canteens, living-rooms and even colleges across the country. Although the National Union of Students in Scotland’s Women’s Officer wanted to “encourage both local authorities and students to promote understanding and tolerance”, The Falkirk Herald pointed out she was not backed by Yvonne Harley, Falkirk College’s student president.

While the Labour ministers at The Mound tried to portray a united front in repeal, the local press in Falkirk discovered notification of a ‘Keep the Clause’ meeting produced on local Labour Party headed notepaper.

If the letters chosen for publication by the editor of The Falkirk Herald were anything to go by, George Guthrie and Dennis Goldie did indeed enjoy massive support. Bert Smith of Hallglen wrote: “Our council at this time is to be congratulated on the democratic stance they have taken on this controversial subject by providing a platform for public debate”.

Peter Moodie of Arnothill, Falkirk wrote: “It is pleasing to see that, at long last, the many shades of opinion on this topic are at last being aired… I was; however, somewhat surprised and disappointed to read the contribution from Duncan McClements… Duncan’s principle reason for repeal of Section 28 is that it is ‘discriminatory’. On that point I can agree with him whole-heartedly as surely it is right to discriminate against that which is evil just as we would discriminate against murder or rape. The gay lobby has been so successful over recent times in brainwashing society into believing that rejection or opposition to homosexuality somehow equates to discrimination of gays, that normally sensible people like Duncan can trot out such rubbish under the guise of Christianity. Abhorrence of unnatural practices does not equate to homophobia!”

H J Lynch from Larbert wrote: “…Balanced information about homosexuality can be given easily within existing Religious Education… A point correctly made by Provost Goldie. The Provost is also correct in stating that the public would not be in favour of ratepayer’s money being used to fund gay/lesbian groups”. The “…Holy Scripture which roundly condemns homosexuality/lesbian practices (Romans 1:24-27 and Corinthians 1:7) How can MSPs (Wendy) Alexander and (Susan) Deacon hope to reduce HIV/sexually transmitted diseases when they are openly supporting gay rights and teenage sexual promiscuity”. Although not made clear in The Falkirk Herald, Hugh J Lynch was a vociferous supporter of ‘Keep the Clause’, chairman of the neighbouring Larbert Labour Party and a member of the militant Family Action Movement, he had recently retired from the position of rector of St Mungo’s Roman Catholic High School in Falkirk and had served as an assistant director of education.

Extracts of a letter to the Scottish Executive and local MSPs from ministers and elders of different churches were carried by The Falkirk Herald. “Our many years of experience as servants to our communities has involved ministry to people with a variety of sexual orientation. In the Name of the Lord whom we serve, we have always sought to treat each person with the love and compassion that we feel Jesus would have demonstrated. We make this point so that you will understand where we are coming from - we are not homophobic…” (But…)! “We believe the promotion of homosexuality and homosexual propaganda in schools will only facilitate the exploitation of the most vulnerable in our society… Some of us have written as individuals and are aware of the case you are putting forward in the guise of being: ‘committed to the principals of equal opportunities and to tackling exclusion in all walks of life in Scotland. These principals apply to sexual orientation as much as to differences of sex and race’. We have consulted the Scottish Executive’s publication Standards in Public Life; Consultation of the Ethical Standards in Public Life (Scotland) Bill along with information published by other agencies such as in the Christian Institute’s booklet entitled ‘Bank-rolling Gay Proselytism’ - all of which you are probably familiar with. Taking the whole scenario into context we feel your arguments are unconvincing and influenced in measure by minority pressure groups”. The letter was signed by representatives of local branches of the Free Church of Scotland, the Church of Scotland, the Evangelical Church, the Dawson Mission, the Pentecostal Church, the Baptist Church and a retired rector of Graeme High School.

Irked by the bank-rolling of religious proselytism, Mr A Irvine of Falkirk was a lone voice in support for repeal on The Falkirk Herald’s letters’ page: “As someone who attended the public meeting in Falkirk Town Hall on Monday, 31 January 2000, hoping for an intelligent, informed debate… I have to say that I am absolutely astonished at the events which occurred. Never before have I heard such a torrent of ill-informed prejudice, hatred and downright bigotry in the name of Christianity. I lost count of the number of speakers who began ‘I am a Christian and I have no desire to force my beliefs on anyone who is not’ and who then proceeded to do exactly that and at some length…”

Provost Goldie could not always count on the unequivocal support of the citizens of Falkirk in recommending him as a man occupying the moral high ground as in the case of some rather outspoken claims made by fellow councillor Billy Buchanan. Lord Philip listened to Anne Smith QC, (now the Hon Lady Smith) a representative of other Christian causes and who was appointed to represent Falkirk Council on this occasion, before agreeing that Buchanan should be silenced.

Dennis Goldie, censured for comparing a political rival to serial killer Harold Shipman, reportedly calling another member of the council a Nazi in 2002 and taking advantage of the Tory’s ‘right-to-buy’ legislation when he purchased five former council houses and set himself up as a landlord, would later be nominated as the Labour candidate to contest the Falkirk West seat in the Scottish elections. Falkirk’s Independent MSP, Dennis Canavan, was standing down. At the Scottish election in 2007, Falkirk West chose, instead, to elect an SNP candidate to represent them.

Labour lost to the SNP in the Scottish elections by just one seat.

Ironically, the SNP had been helped to win with £500,000 of Brian Souter’s money. Alex Salmond became the new First Minister.

The SNP would be bad news for anyone trying to unclasp religion’s hold on Scotland. Salmond had already engaged in behind-the-scenes talks with Catholic leaders; had snubbed a debate on gay equality attended by all Scottish political parties, including the Tories, and backed the right of adoption agencies to turn away gay couples.

Equality Network’s Tim Hopkins wrote to the SNP’s deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon imploring her to answer if they were in favour of equality. She didn’t respond.

After the 2007 election, the SNP hosted a lavish reception at Bute House with its generous allies in attendance – including Brian Souter and Sir Tom Farmer - at a cost to the taxpayer of £1446.50. Salmond had already engaged in behind-the-scenes talks with Catholic leaders and SNP minister Fergus Ewing went on to hold private talks with Souter’s charity, the Souter Charitable Trust (STC) whose aim was “the advancement of religion” to discuss a return to the discredited, pro-abstinence drug policy similar to one promoted by ‘Keep the Clause’s’ David Macauley, only this time, Souter was proposing the administration of neuro-electric therapy – sending an electric current to the brain - to addicts. The controversial treatment had been developed in the sixties by Scottish neurosurgeon, Dr Meg Patterson. The SNP also quickly dropped their resolution to do away with bus de-regulation and were further criticised for not putting out to tender plans to offer a hovercraft service across the Firth of Forth. Stagecoach looked likely to benefit. Stagecoach sought £3.3m of funding until the service became profitable.

At a recent lecture held in the honour of one of Scotland’s most notorious homophobes, Cardinal Winning, Alex Salmond said Scottish schools could learn from the strong moral values he claimed were being taught in Catholic primaries and secondary schools. He promised to make it his mission to put ethics and moral values at the heart of Scottish education, giving his “unswerving support” for more ‘faith’ schools. Attacking opponents of sectarian schools, he praised Catholic schools as “second to none”. Salmond warned: “For too long the attitude of some has been, at best, grudging acceptance of Catholic education and, at worst, outright hostility. It is time for that attitude to be finished in Scottish society”. Instead of addressing a resistance to tackle diversity within Catholic education, Salmond instead proclaimed: “We must celebrate – not tolerate – diversity and distinctiveness within our education system”. After his meeting of Muslim leaders at Bute House and in a nod to demands for separate schools for Muslims, (Sunni, Shi’ah, we don’t know), he promised: “My advocacy for faith-based education extends beyond Catholic schools”. (The Green Party stands virtually alone in its resistance to religious privilege). Let alone homophobia, divisions amongst Muslims, the treatment of women, forced marriages, female circumcision were all conveniently brushed under the carpet in the stampede by the SNP to portray religious solidarity.

Falkirk might've just pulled off its portrayal of Christian sobriety during the ‘Keep the Clause’ campaign but for a deeply religious Catholic man from the town, Robert Mochrie, who, under pressure of a struggling business and a difficult marriage, bludgeoned his wife and four children to death before taking an overdose and hanging himself. It was discovered he had been regularly visiting a female prostitute in Cardiff.

Whilst moral conservatives and militant religionists rocked Falkirk, similar tremors were felt in North Lanarkshire. As a pointer, Larkhall in Lanarkshire was a town where street parties were banned if Glasgow’s Rangers won the Scottish football cup. The protestant town of 10,000 had a fence painted red, white and blue. It was reported that each time the local authority tried to repaint it, the fence was reverted to its original unionist colours. When cable TV boxes were painted green, (the colour of rival Catholic football team, Celtic), there was such an outcry; the company had to repaint them grey. A key figure in Lanarkshire was SNP councillor Richard Lyle. He had already painted his sexually conservative colours to the mast when he told The Scottish News of the World he didn’t want the local Strathclyde Park, which had a small section cruised by gays “becoming another Clapham Common”. Richard Lyle was a major critic of important sexual health work and put lives at risk by obstructing and objecting to health workers handing out condoms there. One prominent doctor, committed to improving sexual health in Scotland, left the country in exasperation. This solid Labour heartland led by the so-called ‘Lanarkshire mafia’ of old-Labour men also planned a vote in response to the Scottish Executive’s moves to repeal Section 28. Richard Lyle had appealed to the Policy and Resources Committee to allow a ‘conscience vote’, rather than a political one. Convener Councillor Jim McCabe agreed. This did not produce the result Richard Lyle wanted. North Lanarkshire Council actually voted to respond to the Scottish Executive with their support for repeal of Section 28 by ten votes to five. So, because 25 per cent of the vote was against appeal, he evoked the council’s 25 per cent rule that meant it had to be debated again to a full council on 17 February 2000. Director of administration, John O’Hagan tried to argue against the use of the 25 per cent rule. He said it only applied to matters discussed by committees and since this subject was not normally delegated to the Policy and Resources Committee, but sent there on a special basis, he argued the 25 per cent rule could not apply. Richard Lyle was however delighted when three Labour members voted to debate an amendment by Harry McGuigan. After talking to West Church Men’s Association, Lyle had his opinion further vindicated. Richard Lyle implored in The Wishaw News: “…This is definitely not a homophobic move… I believe, as a parent and in all conscience, that this clause should not be repealed”.

After a stormy debate at the full council meeting at North Lanarkshire Council an overwhelming 42 to 19 councillors voted to keep the clause, safeguarding parents from the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. After the meeting, Lyle was satisfied that “other councils may now take a similar stand” and told The Scottish Daily Mail: “Wendy Alexander has made a fool of herself”.

It was seen as something of a presentational error that the Scottish Executive hadn’t made more of the fact that 13 of Scotland’s local authorities supported repeal against only three wanting to keep it on the statute books.

Gerald Warner frothed in his Scotland on Sunday column: “That vote represents Old Labour values, from the days of coal in the bath and short shrift for nancy boys in the miners’ welfare. In contrast, New Labour in Edinburgh epitomised by Wendy Alexander, Susan Deacon and incongruously, Sam Galbraith (‘Trust me, I’m a dad!’), has lost all sense of reality. These people do not realise that most parents look forward to spending the Sundays of their twilight years visiting their grandchildren in a conventional family home, not at the bedside of their son in an Aids hospice”.

In Rutherglen’s The Reformer, the Christian Institute’s Colin Hart was quoted saying “some councils… were spending inordinate amounts of money promoting homosexuality in schools”. He warned of “serious problems” in Scotland once Section 28 was repealed and that “the situation would get out of control”.

In East Kilbride, hundreds of churchgoers were being urged to sign a petition against repeal by Catholic Bishop Joseph Devine. Printed in The East Kilbride News, the petition read: “We the undersigned wish to express horror and dismay at the proposal by the Scottish Parliament to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1998 thus allowing homosexuality to be promoted in primary schools”. Local MSP Andy Kerr attacked the media for peddling such inaccurate information. Ian Bell’s column in The Scotsman, announced: “…The time has come to call a halt to the wanton promotion of Christianity in our schools… If rights, duties and offensive teachings are at issue, when might we expect the Scottish executive to disentangle religion from education? The only propaganda supported by law in our schools is propaganda on behalf of religious faith in all its baffling, pernicious variety”.

By March 2000, Scotland on Sunday, a broadsheet supporting ‘Keep the Clause’, had headlined: “Souter pays family to sue on Section 28”. Yet, judging by the remarks of a ‘Keep the Clause’ spokesman, they appeared to still be looking for one: “We will seek to bring a test case and we will need a parent or a family to do that. If any family wants to take part in the opposition to the Executive over Section 28 then we would ask them to approach us”. Scotland on Sunday was defiant and confident that “parents will take fight against policy on sex education to the European court”.

After ‘Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin’ and ‘Beyond a Phase’, militant religionists were hungry for more gay literature to torch. The best was yet to come…

Next issue: Gay Sex Now!

You are reading this free online. The author has not received payment for compiling this history but welcomes donations to any of the following: Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund, PO Box 35253, London E1 4YF. www.tatchellrightsfund.org. Amnesty International www.amnesty.org.uk or Secular Society www.secularism.org.uk. 

garry@scottishmediamonitor.com