Exclusive: Comedian Susan Calman speaks out for equal marriage in Scotland
Susan Calman is the latest celebrity to speak out in support of equal marriage in Scotland as part of the Equality Network’s It’s Time video campaign.
The lawyer-turned-comedian is best known for her regular appearances on comedy panel shows QI, The News Quiz, and Have I Got News For You.
Speaking from George Square in the centre of her native Glasgow, Calman who is openly gay and in a civil partnership said: “I grew up in Glasgow in the 1980s and it wasn’t a particularly easy time to grow up. I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to have a civil partnership and now it seems like the dream of having equal marriage legislation is just there, and if we push just a little bit harder we’ll be able to get it.”
She added: “It would be a moment of great celebration in Scotland if they pass the equal marriage legislation, because we could quite proudly say that the country welcomes you whoever you are and that you’re not treated as a different type of person. It would really show that we’re right bang in the 21st century and that we are an equal and loving country.”
In the video she urged undecided Members of the Scottish Parliament to back the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, arguing: “I would say to any MSPs who are swivering, that it is 2013 now, we are approaching 2014 with the Commonwealth Games and all of those kind of things, other countries in the world are voting for this, we’ve always been a very enlightened country and this is merely a symbol of that.”
Scottish National Party leader and First Minister Alex Salmond, Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, Breakfast TV star Lorraine Kelly, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, Hollywood actor Alan Cumming, and former Scottish Socialist Party MSP Colin Fox and Scottish Green Party Co-Convenor Patrick Harvie and TV presenter Carol Smillie have all recorded videos for the Equality Network’s It’s Time campaign.
The campaign is modelled on PinkNews’ Out4Marriage campaign.
