Ruth Davidson's pregnancy shows yet again that she's a political pioneer

[Soph0571]

Next up, Babe Ruth. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has revealed that, following a course of IVF, she is three months pregnant with her and her partner Jen Wilson’s first child. The announcement was met with widespread expressions of goodwill, and Davidson has handled the various interviews with her usual sangfroid and good cheer. “I’ve had a bit of the fatigue, the nausea and the dizzy spells and all the rest of it,” she said, admitting she had tried to keep the news quiet as she struggled with early-morning sickness. “There was once when I was on my way up to First Minister's Questions and you can probably see on one of the tapes that I go in and sit down, I’m there for a good 30 seconds before I get back up and walk right out again, just in case.”

The 39-year-old MSP is yet again living by that powerful political dictum: be the change you wish to see in the world. She won’t just be a first-time mum in the political front line, but a first-time gay mum. In a couple of years she might even be a first-time gay mum and first minister. In her deliberate, unfussy way, Davidson makes advance after advance for gay people by simply getting on and doing things. Given the conservative environment in which she operates - both party and nation - this matters.

[link:https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2018/04/ruth-davidsons-pregnancy-shows-yet-again-shes-political-pioneer|

2018 and the landscape continues to change. Who would have thought even a decade ago that we would have a pregnant lesbian conservative leader and no-one blinks an eyelid. Marvellous!

[Denzil_DC]

1. I think you're ever-egging it a bit about UK acceptance of a "pregnant lesbian conservative leader"

and the article's over-egging it in hailing Davidson as "a political pioneer" (never mind a prospective future First Minister!).

In Scotland, we have Scottish Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie, who's bisexual, Scottish Tory leader Davidson, who's been out as a lesbian for a while since she took over the post, ex-Scottish Labour Kezia Dugdale, whose coming out as lesbian while in office was the least of her worries (and to be honest, not much of a surprise; her current partner is Jenny Gilruth, an SNP MSP, which has raised more eyebrows), and a Scottish Secretary of State, David Mundell, who came out as gay a couple of years ago while in office (he's a UK government appointee, so maybe bears out the point a little about progress in the UK as a whole, though because at the time he came out he was Scotland's sole Tory MP, maybe not by that much as the range of choices open to the Tories at Westminster wasn't wide!). Quite a high proportion of our prominent Scottish MSPs and MPs are also out as gay, and got elected with that as public knowledge.

It says more about the hard-fought progressive political and social environment we've built up in Scotland over the past couple of decades or so - at times against dogged opposition from the likes of the Tories, though all parties have had to undergo a transformation since the days of anguish over Clause 28 in the UK (enacted via Section 2A in Scotland) - and less about Davidson as a pioneer. I'm glad we have an environment where news like this isn't a big deal.

The history of progress on LGBT rights in Scotland is a long one, starting from shameful sanctions in earlier years, as in the rest of the UK, and can be traced through articles such as this one from 2000 - Section 28: Your questions answered - and the fact that in 2015 and 2016, "In both 2015 and 2016 Scotland was recognised as the best country in Europe for LGBTI legal equality" (Wikipedia - "LGBT rights in Scotland").

[Denzil_DC]

2. Looks like Davidson needs to do some pioneering in her own party south of the border ...

Jacob Rees-Mogg says Ruth Davidson should not be allowed to marry

CONSERVATIVE hardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has argued Ruth Davidson should not be allowed to marry her female partner.

Interviewed yesterday, the high-profile backbencher praised the Scottish Tory leader as a “formidable person with great political skills”. He was then asked: “But you wouldn’t support her marriage to the woman she wants to marry?”

Rees-Mogg replied: “This is a sacramental issue. The sacrament of marriage is one that is defined by the church, not by the state, and the sacrament of marriage is available to a man and a woman. And this is the teaching of the Catholic Church which I accept.”

...

Responding to Rees-Mogg’s comment, a Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Ruth is a passionate believer and campaigner for same-sex marriage. While others may hold a different view, that won’t change Ruth’s commitment to equality.”

http://www.thenational.scot/news/16242881.Rees-Mogg_says_Davidson_should_not_be_allowed_to_marry/