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PinkNews exclusive: Scottish Lib Dem leader says ‘It’s Time’ for MSPs to back equal marriage

Jul 12 2013
Written by Scott Roberts

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is the latest party leader to speak out in favour of equal marriage in Scotland as part of the Equality Network’s It’s Time campaign.

The MSP said: “I support equal marriage because it’s about fairness, about everyone being treated equally in a fair society. It’s about the chance for everyone, no matter where they come from to enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that everybody else has. Equal marriage is about gay people getting the same rights as everybody else. Just now we don’t have that, and we need to change it and change it quickly.”

Yesterday, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson reaffirmed her support for equal marriage in Scotland by saying “it’s a matter of love” in a video for the It’s Time campaign.

Although both Ms Davidson and Scottish Conservatives Deputy Leader Jackson Carlaw have signed the Equality Network’s Equal Marriage Pledge, the majority of all 15 Tory MSPs remain undecided or are opposed to the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill.

There are currently at least 89 Members of the Scottish Parliament out of a total of 129 who have stated their support for the bill including all cabinet ministers, the leaders of each of the four parties and every Liberal Democrat MSP.

The Liberal Democrats are the fourth largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 5 MSPs.

Mr Rennie said: “When MSPs are considering which way to vote on this issue, they need to think about their friends, about their neighbours, about the person down the street, about fairness in Scotland… That’s what they need to think about; what is the effect on people. If legislators don’t do that they’re not doing their job properly.”

The Equality Network’s It’s Time campaign is modelled on PinkNews’ Out4Marriage campaign.