THIS is an open letter to First Minister Humza Yousaf and the SNP National Executive Committee.
The last few years have been incredibly testing and trying for Scotland’s LGBT community – not least for myself.
I have been in and out of the party of which I first became an associate member at the tender age of 13. I started taking part in Scotland’s largest political exercise – our independence referendum – in late 2012, long before the vote, becoming a fully paid-up party member not long after my 16th birthday.
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In the halls and corridors of my secondary school, with a catchment area serving one of the most deprived post-industrial areas of Scotland, I maintained a steady beat, extolling the virtues of an independent Scotland run by the Scottish National Party at every opportunity, to every 16-year-old and adult voter who would give me the time of day.
The virtues of a progressive democracy. Of a welfare state. Of something new and fair that would put Scotland’s future into the hands of the people of Scotland.
In the wake of our unfortunate defeat in 2014, more than 100,000 people came together to transform a political party of only a few thousand into one of the largest in the United Kingdom.
I like to think that they joined for a vision of the future that emphasised social justice – of egalitarianism, of fighting back and resisting the reactionary institutions and donors of the Better Together campaign and the elites within the British system of governance.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf responds to criticism over Brian Souter dinner
The decade since has been one of consolation prizes. If we were not able to win the war, we certainly won the peace. A progressively nationalist government at Holyrood, and at one point all but three Westminster seats in our hands. We sat proud as punch atop Scottish society, with nearly one in every 50 Scots being a member of a social-democratic organisation seeking to restore our country’s sovereignty and ensure it would be well utilised to change things for the better – for the common good.
The jewel in that crown was the knowledge that among the younger voter demographics, independence and SNP support was at its highest – that it would be the next generation who would lead Scotland to independence. Young, educated people who saw the promise of Nicola Sturgeon’s progressive lead on LGBT and women’s issues, and how this – combined with seizing our constitutional future – could usher in a new golden age for our own “Athens of the North”.
Yet, the last few days have revealed a betrayal of the Sturgeonite legacy that you campaigned on in the leadership election – and this rests solely at the feet of yourself and the National Executive, First Minister.
READ MORE: Patrick Harvie speaks out after Humza Yousaf's dinner with Brian Souter
We were faced with a stark choice: a continuation candidate who would continue to champion LGBT rights and ensure an unbroken continuity in young people’s faith in Scotland’s fledgling political institutions, or a socially conservative proponent of austerity.
When the results came out my partner and I breathed a sigh of relief. The party had made the right choice in order to secure its future – a future in which Scotland would continue to be governed by the enlightenment principles that our nation birthed.
First Minister, members of the NEC, by aligning yourself with Brian Souter you seriously risk your young voter base.
I’m aware that the political calculus at the moment still leaves you paying more heed to older voters, and I’m aware that the party’s finances are leaving you in dire straits. But Scotland’s independence – our very nationhood, the soul of our country – depends on the young. It depends on the referendum generation.
You run a VERY SERIOUS risk of throwing a decade of goodwill and positive polling among young people down the drain if this course continues.
Losing an election or even the next few elections will be nothing compared to that. We are talking about fundamentally changing the statistics, beliefs, and party allegiance of Scotland’s progressives and social democrats.
Do not make the same mistakes as the Conservative Party, especially with a Labour government on the horizon. There could very well be a shift in the winds that allows the SNP to maintain a controlling plurality of votes in Scottish elections.
Yours in the best of faith,
Eilidh McIntosh
Former Political Education Officer & Former Youth Officer,
SNP Sauchie Branch, Clackmannanshire
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