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EmailNancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall, and Colin Macfarlane, Director Stonewall Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: ‘We are appalled by the baseless and offensive accusations made by Alba parliamentary candidate Margaret Lynch on Saturday.
‘In a speech made on Saturday (10 April), she accused Stonewall, LGBT Youth Scotland, and indirectly ILGA World, of campaigning to lower the age of consent to 10. Her words were then widely shared online by a number of individuals and organisations. What she said was not only untrue, but it was also a wilful, bad faith interpretation made for the sole purpose of trying to smear LGBT+ organisations. Her allegations have been refuted in the strongest terms by ILGA World.
‘In making these accusations, she is repeating deeply harmful myths about LGBT+ people as paedophiles and sexual predators. It’s the oldest trick in the homophobic book of lies. This kind of language has a long, dark history of being used to paint us as threats to children and stop us from being treated as equal citizens. These myths are used to bully, intimidate and silence LGBT+ people.
‘We will not stand for this. Her comments have been deeply upsetting for LGBT+ people in Scotland and beyond. These falsehoods and those who recycle them and amplify them place our staff and our community in danger. They have no place in public life, or anywhere else in society.
‘We call on Margaret Lynch to retract her false accusation and apologise. We are carefully considering our next steps. If you have any information that could help us consider our next steps, please get in touch. This is about the sort of country we want to live in, and whether we want to live in a country where decency and truth matter. We call on all Scotland’s political leaders to condemn this behaviour and stand in solidarity with LGBT+ communities.’
