Bowing to the bigots

NEW LABOUR in Scotland has caved in to the bigots who want to keep Section 28, the anti-gay clause which forbids the "promotion" of homosexuality. The Keep the Clause campaign is headed by multimillionaire Stagecoach boss Brian Souter and backed by the head of the Catholic church in Scotland, Cardinal Winning.

Souter's privately funded referendum on Section 28 has been a fiasco. Yet the Scottish Parliament executive, headed by New Labour and the Liberal Democrats, has agreed to major concessions. Although it will repeal Section 28, the executive will have powers to order schools to follow "guidelines" on teaching sex education.

This used to be the Scottish National Party's position. It was condemned as unworkable by New Labour. This disgraceful climbdown was immediately followed by news that Glasgow's Labour-run city council had stopped all funding to lesbian and gay groups. 

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