Bigot of the Year 2012 - Cardinal Keith O'Brien

Stonewall have named Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, as their 'Bigot of the Year' for 2012, in particular because of his visceral opposition to same-sex marriage.

The Catholic hierarchy have reacted with fury and have 'demanded' (just who do these people think they are to demand anything!)that the Scottish Government and two banks (Barclays and Coutts [part of the RBS group, incidentally]) withdraw their sponsorship. The two banks have already indicated to Stonewall, apparently, that they may indeed withdraw their sponsorship if this particular award is not dropped from next year's awards.

It is rich for the Roman Catholic Church to claim it is being intimidated and vilified by Stonewall when it is this 'sky-fairy cult' that has a long history of intimidating and vilifying anyone who disagrees with what it grandly calls its 'doctrine', not to mention covering up the abuse of children by its paid agents (aka 'priests') over many decades. Cardinal Keith O'Brien deserves his title of 'Bigot of the Year' awarded to him by Stonewall, for that is what he is - a bigot. He may not like being held up and named publicly, but his bigotry is a matter of simple objective observation. When he alters his odious viewpoint and issues a public recantation of his hateful language in respect of gay and lesbian people it will be time enough to consider relieving him of his deserved 'badge of shame'.

Incidentally, as a customer of RBS I shall be making my views known to it. I find it quite deplorable that it's subsidiary, Coutts, is even considering bowing to the pressure from the Roman Catholic Church; rather than withdrawing its support from Stonewall it should re-emphasise its support, even if its own financial situation makes it difficult for it to continue its charitable donations at earlier levels. This is not solely a matter of money, but about where Coutts stands on this moral issue.