Love crime

SCOTTISH parliament bosses have banned ministers and priests from addressing MSPs unless they refrain from attacking homosexuals and other minorities.

The new guidelines, which were a response to Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s recent speech at Time For Reflection, Holyrood’s four-minute prayer slot, have prompted the Catholic Church to call for the fixture to be scrapped.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland had used his short speech last December to claim that gays and lesbians were “captives to sexual aberration”.

He also compared non- heterosexuals to prisoners in Edinburgh’s Saughton jail who were waiting to be “set free”.

His remarks infuriated officials who believed the cardinal had taken advantage of a privileged speaking slot by attacking one of Scotland’s most vulnerable communities.

Angry politicians then signed Green MSP Patrick Harvie’s motion condemning O’Brien’s “gratuitous insult”, a petition that attracted cross-party support.

Now MSPs have acted to prevent a repeat episode by tightening the rules for guests at the Time For Reflection.

In revised guidance agreed earlier this month by the parliamentary bureau, the body that dictates chamber business, Holyrood officials have clamped down on offensive speeches by religious figures.

It now reads: “[Contributions] will be consistent with the principle of equal opportunities for all and should not include remarks or comments which are discriminatory.” . [Source]

So banning religious speech is this context is not discriminatory? Maybe we need a new category of crime called a Love Crime. A love crime is where you love the sinner enough to rebuke the sin, also known as love speech. We definitely need love crime legislation now to stop these growing incidences of speech motivated by love.