Editing Brian Souter (section)

===Section 28===

[[File:Section28-cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Section 28]] protester with a [[Stagecoach Manchester]] bus in July 2000]]

In 2000, the [[Scottish Government|Scottish Executive]] proposed the abolition of [[Section 28]] laws, which forbade [[local authorities]] from "intentionally promoting [[homosexuality]]". Souter was a prominent leader of the [[Keep the Clause campaign]], which sought to prevent its abolition. In Scotland, where [[Section 28]] was known as clause 2A, Souter spent £1 million on the first privately funded postal [[referendum]] across Scotland to gauge public opinion. A spokesman for Souter stated "He is not in this for personal glory. He is fighting this battle because he is a father and committed Christian."<ref name=BBC30May2000>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/768882.stm |title=SCOTLAND &#124; Poll supports S28 retention |work=BBC News |date=30 May 2000 |access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref>

3,970,712 ballot papers were posted out and 31.8% valid votes were returned, a turnout rate lower than any Scottish national election. 86.8% were in favour of keeping Clause 28, 13.2% in favour of repeal.<ref name=BBC30May2000/>

Souter pointed out that the number of people who voted to keep the clause exceeded the number of votes cast for any single political party in Scotland at any election over the preceding ten years,{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} although Scottish voters usually choose from four main parties, not two options. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.

Souter's campaign group approached the [[Electoral Reform Society]] to organise the ballot through its ballot services subsidiary. The society refused the request as it believed the poll "would not be a legitimate democratic exercise to ask people to give an opinion on the repeal of Section 28 without knowing the detail of what would replace it".<ref name="poll">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/697348.stm |title=SCOTLAND &#124; Souter poll hits major setback |work=BBC News |date=31 March 2000 |access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> Many groups hostile to Souter's stance had called for a public boycott of the poll, and accordingly claimed that as only a minority voted this was a defeat for Souter and his supporters. Mainstream politicians, including the [[Scottish National Party]] (which Souter has supported) largely ignored his poll and disputed whether the result was a true reflection of public opinion, with the [[Scottish Executive]] stating that the public had been fed a diet of "misinformation and lies" by Souter's campaign group.<ref name=BBC30May2000/> The Communities Minister, [[Wendy Alexander]] MSP, criticised the poll, stating "I think what is significant about today's ballot is that two out of three voters rejected, or binned or simply ignored this glorified opinion poll."<ref name="msp2005">{{cite web |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=246702005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050313164848/http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=246702005 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2005 |title=Keep the Clause: the legacy - News - Scotsman.com |publisher=Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com |date=6 March 2005 |access-date=5 February 2012 }}</ref> Gay rights campaigner [[Peter Tatchell]] stated that "Brian Souter's support for Section 28 is the moral equivalent of the business-funded campaign to maintain racial segregation in the Deep South of the USA in the 1950s." Tatchell said that Souter's campaign was "hateful" and that it is clear that he was using his vast fortune to try to keep a cruel and "bigoted law" intact.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/section28/souter.htm |title=Think Again, Brian Souter |publisher=Peter Tatchell |date=16 January 2000 |access-date=5 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809141151/http://www.petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/section28/souter.htm |archive-date=9 August 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>