Today, the Scottish Government was expected to announce its decision on whether to support marriage equality legislation. Instead, the government punted and decided not to decide until the end of the month, for reasons which remain unclear.
John Barrowman, noted Scotland-born actor and gay activist, was not happy about that. In a statement given to The Scottish Sun, Barrowman spoke his mind to those who are leading the fight against marriage equality in Scotland.
Barrowman's statement is all the more notable because until today he had not been terribly interested in getting officially married:
Barrowman met his partner Scott Gill during a production of Rope at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1993... Barrowman and Gill entered into a civil partnership on December 27, 2006. They decline to call their relationship a marriage: "We're just going to sign the civil register. We're not going to have any ceremony because I'm not a supporter of the word 'marriage' for a gay partnership." Despite believing in God, Barrowman explains: "Why would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates me?"
That's now changed. Below the squiggle is
Barrowman's statement in which he changes his mind and gives the bigots, particularly Roman Catholic Cardinal O'Brien, what for.
It's my duty as an openly gay man who believes in humanity to speak out on this issue. Being allowed to get married is about being respected and loved by other human beings.
Until now, I didn't like the word marriage for gays because of the organisation it represented. The idea seemed to upset the Church and therefore my partner Scott Gill and I took the view that we’d call ours a civil partnership.
But I've changed my mind and marriage is something we would consider. The reason? When somebody is telling you that you cannot do something, when somebody is spewing vile rhetoric and calling us a threat to heterosexuality, it's time to take a stand. And we decided if that means getting married, then that's fine. We want to have the choice to get married.
Christianity to me is about loving every human being, getting on with your fellow man, being kind and generous, which Jesus was. I was created by Jesus and I'm not having any bigot telling me that God did not create me.
This is not a broad attack on the Church in Scotland, because there are a lot of good, loving church people in Scotland who don't care if you're gay or not. It's Cardinal Keith O'Brien I have a problem with.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government wanted to promote marriage amongst gay men and women then when they lost a lot of Conservative seats at the last local elections, it was taken off the agenda. They didn't have the balls, like President Obama did, to step forward and support it. That was very disappointing.
I know what will happen after this piece is published. I'm giving my opinion but the people who believe in what O'Brien says will stand up and declare I'm wrong, bad and shouldn't be allowed to.
I'm not saying that all religious people are like O'Brien because I know great people who are Christian and know gay men and women are here for a purpose and are good people. But that specific person, and others, should not be allowed to speak as they do.
And if they do, then I and others should be allowed to stand up and tell them they are ignorant bigots.
And who can argue with that?