GEORGE Galloway has demanded ‘an emergency statement’ from the SNP-run Scottish government over shocking claims that they have given over £1m to an LGBT group campaigning to drastically lower the age of consent.
The claim that Stonewall Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland, both of which receive funding from the Scottish Government, are campaigning for such a move was first made by Margaret Lynch, an Alba party candidate for Central Scotland at the party’s Women’s Conference held yesterday.
Breaking the story, popular political website wingsoverscotland.com wrote that “While watching reports from the Alba Party women’s conference that took place this afternoon, we saw something that we thought must be wrong. But it wasn’t.
“ILGA World – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association – is an organisation that we hadn’t heard of until today. Just over a year ago they released, as part of a 200-member caucus of other groups, something called ‘The Feminist Declaration’. It’s a mostly-innocuous document of demands about women’s rights, but buried in the middle of it is a very disturbing section.”
The section in question is a demand to “End the criminalisation and stigmatisation of adolescents’ sexuality, and ensure and promote a positive approach to young people’s and adolescents’ sexuality that enables, recognises, and respects their agency to make informed and independent decisions on matters concerning their bodily autonomy, please and fundamental freedoms”.
Other groups who have signed the declaration include Labour-backing Unite The Union.
The logic behind the claim that the section is essentially a demand for children to be allowed to have sex, centres around the World Health Organisation defining “adolescents” as people aged between 10 and 19.
Wings continues with: “the only possible interpretation of “end the criminalisation of adolescents’ sexuality” is a reduction in the age of consent to 10 years old. Indeed, a slightly earlier paragraph of the Declaration is more explicit about it:
”Eliminate all laws and policies that punish or criminalize same-sex intimacy, gender affirmation, abortion, HIV transmission non-disclosure and exposure, or that limit the exercise of bodily autonomy, including laws limiting legal capacity of adolescents, people with disabilities or other groups to provide consent to sex”
Upon the article’s release, outspoken politician and renowned debater George Galloway tweeted:
“Hey @scotgov we need an emergency statement. Wings has alleged you have lavishly funded an organisation which is part of an Alliance campaigning to reduce the Age of Consent to 10. It doesn’t get more serious than that. Many are angry with you. Explain yourselves.”
One of the signatories of the declaration is Stonewall Scotland, whose website states they campaign “for the equality of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people across Britain”. The charity quickly rejected the accusation, issuing the following statement on Twitter:
Another signatory mentioned during the conference is LGBT Youth Scotland, whose former Chief executive James Rennie was sentenced to life imprisonment for 50 charges relating to a paedophile ring operating in Scotland. The group has not yet made comment.
A spokesperson for the SNP said: “These claims are deeply homophobic and untrue, and no party should tolerate such false and offensive statements.”
Yet the Alba Party have announced that they stand behind the accusation.
“The organisations referenced have both signed up to this demand, and both have received substantial amounts of Government funding” said a spokesperson. “These are reputable organisations that make a positive impact on the lives of many in Scotland.
“If the organisations do not support what they have signed up to it is for them to say or provide clarification, it is not for women that attended our women’s conference to defend concerns that women have raised based on fact.“
