Better never than late

It's good to see that Barclays and Coutts have decided to withdraw sponsorship from the Stonewall awards next year unless the 'Bigot' award is dropped however it beggars belief that they did not know what they were sponsoring this year given that Nationwide, one of last year's sponsors, withdrew after getting serious flak over their involvement. Their move today smacks of damage limitation in the face of a media storm. Stonewall do good work in preventing bullying of homosexuals, however, when they use the term 'bigot' to try and censure the speech of those who don't agree with them, they become the bully. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong target in Cardinal O'Brien. Nobody, Calton least of all, would have objected if they'd picked whoever said that gay people should be shot dead but the Cardinal's comments on gay marriage are not in the same category. His comments may be offensive to homosexuals but many people are deeply unhappy with the idea of marriage being redefined and feel that the Cardinal speaks for them. In labelling him a bigot, Stonewall also labels them bigots. Such name-calling only widens the gulf between the two sides of the debate and the fact that Ruth Davidson got booed for objecting to the 'Bigot' award at the Stonewall event reveals the petty nature of some of Stonewall's supporters. Stonewall would do well to dissociate itself from such people.