Green MSP targeted by “So Macho” Christians

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The man who wrote gay anthem “So Macho” is attempting to oust one of the few LGB members of the Scottish Parliament from his seat.

The elections for the parliament will be held on 3rd May. Top of the list for the Green party in the Glasgow region is Patrick Harvie.

He has been an MSP since 2003 and is widely expected to be re-elected.

George Hargreaves, founder of the Scottish Christian Party, is standing against him, and says that Mr Harvie’s open bisexuality makes him sinful.

Mr Hargreaves has funded the SCP – slogan Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship – with royalties he continues to receive for co-writing and producing the 1980s anthem So Macho, sung by gay icon Sinitta.

The B-side of the single was called Cruising.

In a newsletter to supporters, Mr Hargreaves said: “Patrick Harvie tried to get the Archbishop of Glasgow arrested for preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

“We are out to undermine the Greens because they let in a secularist fundamentalist gay rights activist under a Green flag of convenience. We will expose him.”

Mr Harvie told PinkNews.co.uk he was not worried by threats from the SCP and their claims to represent a Christian voice.

“I think they represent George Hargreaves. It seems they do not even have enough supporters to put up their own placards as they had a company do it. They are a very small group of extremists.

“They do not represent a threat.”

Mr Hargreaves found God after moving to the Isle of Man to avoid paying tax, and qualified as a Pentecostal minister.

Last October he was reported to have offered to donate £50,000 to an appeal by nine firefighters from Strathclyde Fire Service.

In August 2006 they were ordered to undergo an intensive course in diversity training as a punishment for refusing to hand out leaflets at the gay Pride Scotia in June.

They lost their appeal.

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Mr Harvie was a leading voice in the successful campaign to abolish Section 28 in Scotland.

He told PinkNews.co.uk that some sections of the press were responsible for giving groups like the SCP undue publicity:

“On issues like Section 28, sex education in schools or the firefighters at Pride, some of the tabloids just go to people like the SCP and then say they represent the majority of Christians in Scotland.

“They are small number of evangelical fundamentalists – they do not represent Scottish Christians who rejected fundamentalism hundreds of years ago.

“I am very proud to be in a party that puts challenging homophobia on page one of its manifesto.”

The 129-member Scottish parliament is made up of 73 constituencies who elect one MSP by a straight majority.

Eight regions also elect seven MSPs each by proportional representation.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Conservative Unionist Party, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity, the Socialist Labour Party, the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, Scottish Voice, UKIP, SCP, the BNP and Independent Muhammad Shoaib are standing for election in the Glasgow region.

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