Perth-based tycoon Sir Brian Souter has again put himself on a collision course with gay rights campaigners by denouncing same-sex relationships.
The joint co-founder of the Stagecoach transport group, who backed the Keep the Clause campaign a decade ago, says he fears that if the traditional set-up of man and woman is ignored there could be a descent into a “Babylonian” society where sex is mainly a recreational activity.
In 2000, he donated an estimated £1 million to efforts to retain Clause 28, which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. The then Scottish Executive under First Minister Donald Dewar had made scrapping the clause a political priority.
Sir Brian a member of the Trinity Church of the Nazarene in York Place, Perth is the biggest donor to the SNP and he backs the Scottish Government’s move to hold a 14-week consultation on gay marriage on the basis that the matter will go to a free vote in Holyrood.
Gay rights campaigners were critical of him being given his knighthood.
At the weekend, he explained his feelings on same-sex relationships.
“We are arguing here about what kind of society we want to live in,” he said. “Are we going to be in a Babylonian-Greek type of society, where sex is primarily a recreational activity, or are we going to stick with the Judeo-Christian tradition, where procreation is something that we want to put within a marriage context?
“These two different philosophies are beginning to emerge and quite honestly the issue about gay relationships is a small side product from that.”
He continued: “I think it was Hillary Clinton who would consider herself a liberal who said you need a certain percentage of stable marriage-based families for society not to implode. It is an interesting quote because it is right it is about where we put the emphasis.”
Sir Brian believes people with views such as his are increasingly becoming ostracised.’Building block'”It is definitely the case that people who hold the view the traditional marriage-based family is the building block of society and that is a pretty wide group of people including humanists and agnostics as well as people of faith are feeling somewhat marginalised,” he added.
“I really think we want to get away from polarised discussion about one alternative lifestyle. The real issue is a much wider issue about how society is going to be in the future. It’s about the way our whole society holds together.”
Last week he accused Google of censorship after the search engine giant de-listed his personal website. It was reinstated later in the week.
“Everybody knows I’m a traditionalist,” he said. “I have no desire to censor anyone who expresses views that are opposed to mine.
“However, if there is to be freedom of speech on the internet, it’s important that there is not an algorithm that stops that.
“If a load of people target you and it’s not a secret that there are gay pressure groups who have been opposing my knighthood I don’t know if that has affected the algorithm.”
Gay rights charity Stonewall has already nominated Sir Brian for 2011 Bigot of the Year. Its director, Alan Wardle, said: “Gay couples want their relationships to be acknowledged and all the evidence shows most Scots think this is a sensible move.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We recognise that there will be a range of views on the consultation proposals, and we want to hear the views from all sections of Scottish society.
“No final views have been reached and no decisions have been taken.”