Scottish gay laws “jeopardising family life”

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The Scottish Executive is “jeopardising family life” by allowing civil partnerships, a Catholic bishop has warned.

The Bishop Of Paisley, Philip Tartaglia, used a speech to legal figures in Edinburgh yesterday to attack the concept of gay unions.

He accused lawmakers of going against “God’s purpose,” he said: “A raft of legislative measures have jeopardised, recklessly I think, family life as intended by God’s purpose for human beings.

“But political correctness, often the enemy of right-thinking and freedom of speech, practically forbids this to be said because it will offend some groups’ sensitivities.”

Bishop Tartaglia said gay marriage advocates had lost sight of God’s will.

His statements were quashed by MSPs who overwhelmingly backed laws introducing civil partnerships last year, Labour MSP Susan Deacon told The Daily Record, “This sounds like another torrent of intolerance from a senior figure in the Roman Catholic Church.

“It is right that the law reflects and respects the range of relationships and family structures in a modern Scotland.”

Roman Catholic bishops have had a tempestuous relationship with the Scottish Executive recently with public clashes over pro-gay laws such as civil partnerships and adoptions.