The favourite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader has been engulfed by controversy after saying she would have voted against gay marriage.
Kate Forbes, a devout Christian, said she would have opposed it as “a matter of conscience” if she had been an MSP when it became law in Scotland in 2014.
But the comments by Scottish finance minister Ms Forbes looked to have destroyed her leadership campaign before it had got off the ground.
At least four prominent SNP colleagues withdrew their support, with saying the front-runner had crossed a “red line”.
Former Lib Dem MP leader Tim Farron’s political career never recovered from him saying gay sex was “not a sin”. He made the statement in the 2017 election after coming under pressure over his own stance on homosexuality, which he said reflected his Christian beliefs.
Ms Forbes later told Sky News that she believes having children outside of marriage is “wrong”, saying it was something she would personally “seek to avoid”.
“For me, it would be wrong according to my faith, but for you I have no idea what your faith is. So, in a free society you can do what you want,” she added.
Ms Forbes hit back at criticism over her comments, saying politics was “moving into dangerous days” if people of faith like her were “barred from high office”.
Marriage was “between a man and a woman”, she said, but she was “not a dictator” and would respect democratic support for gay marriage.
The finance secretary compared herself to Angela Merkel whom she said had opposed gay marriage for religious reasons while introducing it in Germany as Chancellor.
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Today, Ms Forbes insisted her campaign would survive the “Twittersphere storm”. She was entitled to speak out on the issue because “free speech was the cornerstone of a tolerant and pluralistic society”.
Challenged by interviewer Mishal Hussain that her comments had destroyed her “authority”, Ms Forbes said: “I will defend to the hilt your right to live and love free of harassment and fear in the hope that you would afford me the same right as a person of faith”.
Asked directly if she would vote against gay marriage if the vote took place today she said: “I have always viewed marriage as a question of conscience. Angela Merkel voted against equal marriage as a matter of conscience but it was under her leadership as chancellor that it was implemented.”
“I would vote in accordance with mainstream Christian teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. But equal marriage is a legal right and I am a servant of democracy not a dictator and would respect and defend that democratic choice.
“If we are saying that high public office is barred to people of faith, or only to people with the right kind of faith, or with socially accepted faith, we are moving into very dangerous days.”
Her views on issues such as gay marriage were “commonplace in many faiths including Islam, Christianity and Judaism”.
SNP children’s minister Clare Haughey and Gillian Martin, Aberdeenshire East MSP, were among the first Forbes backers to say they could no longer support her campaign. “I have red lines. And this is one,” said Ms Martin.
Employment minister Richard Lochhead and finance minister Tom Arthur also withdrew support, with Mr Arthur saying equal marriage “is amongst our parliament’s greatest achievements”.
Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, also withdrew support, saying he was keen to “bring people across communities, of all faiths – and none – back to a position of love, understanding, and, above all, respect”.
Leadership rival Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, distanced himself from Ms Forbes’s position – saying he backed same-sex marriage and would “always fight for the equal rights of others”.
He also said he would not legislate on the basis of his faith. Speaking on LBC, Mr Yousaf said: “I’m a supporter of equal marriage ... I’m a Muslim. I’m somebody who’s proud of my faith. But what I don’t do is, I don’t use my faith as a basis of legislation.”
A senior member of Ms Forbes’s campaign told The Scotsman she had already “f*****” her leadership bid after saying she would have voted against gay marriage.
Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson tweeted: “I’m pretty sure that, with this, Kate Forbes has just set fire to her leadership campaign on the very same day as she launched it.”
William Hague has told Times Radio that someone who doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage “couldn’t get elected leader of the Conservative Party now”.
Ms Forbes said on Tuesday that her campaign is “absolutely not over” despite a backlash on her equal marriage views. Asked if her leadership bid was doomed on BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme, she replied: “Absolutely not.”
Ms Forbes later said she regrets the “hurt” her comments on equal marriage had caused. She told Times Radio: “I regret enormously the pain or hurt that has been caused because that was neither my intention, and I would seek forgiveness if that is how it’s come across.”
It was an issue that led to the downfall of Mr Farron as Liberal Democrat leader. The Christian was eventually pushed into saying he did not believe “that gay sex is a sin”, but later resigned – saying “remaining faithful to Christ” was incompatible with leading the party.
Ms Forbes’s public views on equal marriage come after she said she would not have voted for Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in its current form.
As she was on maternity leave, she did not participate in the final vote before the new year. But she was one of 15 SNP politicians who publicly called on her party to delay the proposals which make it easier for transgender people to self-identify as their chosen gender.
“My concerns about self-ID have been well documented and I would have continued to have those concerns about self-ID … I think I would have struggled to support that self-ID element of the Gender Recognition Act,” she said.
Ash Regan is also running to be leader, making clear that ditching the gender self-ID reforms and an aggressive push for a second Scottish independence referendum will be at the top of her campaign agenda.
