The “civilised” debate that led to the legalisation of equal marriage in Scotland would not be possible 10 years on amid a global trend towards polarisation and the increasing inability to find common ground, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Sturgeon, who led the Scottish government’s drive for equal marriage rights when she was deputy first minister, said she believed the outcome would probably be the same, but “the nature of the debate would be much more toxic, divisive and unpleasant than it was 10 years ago”.
“That’s what should give all of us pause for thought. This is a global phenomenon, that debate on all manner of issues has become so polarised and people find it impossible to breach the divide, to find common ground.”
The campaign for same-sex marriage, which has been legal in Scotland since 16 December 2014, remains a template, according to the former first minster, who cited the growing polarisation of politics as one reason for her stepping down in February 2023.
“What is striking is how relatively civilised the debate was, notwithstanding some of the opposition. There wasn’t the same rancour or thinly veiled prejudice that had characterised the repeal of section 28 just a few years previous to that, and it didn’t have the toxicity that most debates in current discourse tend to have.”
Sturgeon acted as a witness at one of the first weddings under the new law, which was passed by the Holyrood parliament in February 2014 with significant public support but drew opposition from church groups. She said it sent a signal both domestically and globally “about how far Scotland had come”. Similar legislation was passed in England and Wales in July 2013, coming into effect in March 2014.
“Scotland is a country where, within our lifetimes, gay male relationships were still criminalised. So the significance of that journey is impossible to overstate.”
Although the legislation has had a profound impact – “there’s no doubt we are a much more equal and tolerant society than we were 10 years ago” – Sturgeon said the past few years had been a reminder of the need for vigilance. “When rights are under threat, whether it’s abortion rights in America or LGBT rights in other parts of the world, that’s when it really matters to stand up and be counted.”
She said she had noticed progressive voices “shying away … in the face of the sort of pushback that comes from rightwing media or some very loud populist voices in the political space”.
This was understandable, she said, given her own experience of advocating for the reform of transgender rights in Scotland: “I’ve got more abuse on the trans issue than I got on any other issue in my entire time in politics. I’m pretty thick-skinned when it comes to that kind of stuff, but not everybody is and so it’s understandable that there’s a shying away”.
After the success of same-sex marriage, equality campaigners argued that reform of gender recognition rules (GRR) for transgender people was the obvious next step, and Sturgeon pledged to champion the reform when she became SNP leader and first minister.
But the passage of the reforms – which were agreed by a cross-party majority in December 2022 before they were blocked by the UK’s Conservative government – resulted in one of the most acrimonious periods of her leadership , with some critics accusing her of betraying women.
With hindsight, what would she had done differently, perhaps to bring more supporters onboard?
“Could things have been done differently? Inevitably that’s always the case. But we consulted on the GRR legislation for longer than we consulted on anything else, and right up until the point of the legislation passing, I don’t think it was the case that there was massive public opposition.
“But things became so toxic, and opposition became so entrenched and – this is not the case for everybody who opposed that legislation – but there were forces that muscled into that debate who, I think, you know, had a bigger agenda in terms of rights more generally.”
The Scottish reforms remain permanently blocked now by the UK’s Labour government and the current first minister, John Swinney, has shown no appetite for returning to the issue. A proposed ban on conversion practices in Scotland has been shelved while Westminster works on a UK-wide plan, and the deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, has said she would have voted against equal marriage.
Sturgeon, however, insists she does not have any concerns that the current Scottish government is moving away from that progressive agenda she championed. “I would just make the point about the Scottish government, as I would make about any government, that it’s important not just to believe the right things, but to be prepared to stand up and be counted on them as well.”
Sturgeon, who is editing a memoir of her time in office, also said she had no concerns that the ongoing police investigation into Scottish National party’s finances – which led to her arrest and her husband, Peter Murrell, a former SNP chief executive, being charged with embezzlement – would harm the party’s prospects in the 2026 Holyrood elections.
