BB homophobe’s posters targeted
A candidate for a Christian party in the Scottish elections has complained that he is the victim of vandalism and theft.
Tom Forrest gained press attention three years ago when he refused to take a booking for two gay men at his Bed Breakfast establishment.
He is standing as a candidate for the Scottish Christian Party in the elections on May 3rd.
Mr Forrest claims he would go to prison rather than allow two gay men to share one of his rooms.
His BB in Wester-Ross, in the Scottish Highlands, will not be allowed to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation when the Sexual Orientation Regulations become law at the end of this month.
Several of his election posters near his home have been defaced, and the matter is being investigated by police.
Before the start of the election campaign, SCP posters were put up in parts of Glasgow, only to be ripped down again.
The party leader, George Hargreaves, last week accused the gay press of peddling “Christianophobia.”
Mr Hargreaves has funded the SCP with royalties he continues to receive for co-writing and producing the 1980s anthem So Macho, sung by gay icon Sinitta.
The B-side of the single was called Cruising.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Hargreaves defended the thousands of pounds he continues to earn every month from the hit song:
“It says in the Bible that so long as Earth remains there shall be seed time and harvest. You could say that So Macho was the seed I sowed and now I’m reaping the harvest,” he said.
“That money allows me to do the work that needs to be done to advance Christianity.
“What would they prefer me to do? Flush the money down the toilet? That would be ungodly.”
The party is targeting Green party candidate Patrick Harvie, an openly bisexual man.
Mr Hargreaves’ attack on Mr Harvie, one of only a handful of out LGB national politicians in Scotland, is based partly on his previous work with gay health charities:
“This is not just a cuddly Green MSP. I do not think that people were fully aware of his whole agenda when he was elected,” Mr Hargreaves told The Times.
“He is a gay fundamentalist who got in using a green card of convenience and I want to expose him.”
Mr Harvie made light of the SCP’s desire to defeat him at the election.
With reference to So Macho, he quipped: “I’d be racked with guilt if I wrote that song too.”