Nicola Sturgeon was right to apologise to gay men

The cameras were on Nicola Sturgeon but it was Nick and Phil Duffy’s day. The couple sat in the public gallery of the Scottish Parliament to hear the First Minister announce her government’s Bill to pardon gay men historically prosecuted for same-sex relations. The old men, who sat holding hands, heard Sturgeon tell Holyrood that while disregards of past criminal offences were long overdue, they were not enough. A more meaningful reparation had to be made: a national apology to those whose lives were ruined and whose love was chased into the shadows. She declared:

‘Today, as First Minister, I categorically, unequivocally and whole-heartedly apologise for those laws and for the hurt and the harm that they have caused to so many people. Nothing that parliament does can erase those injustices, but I hope that this apology, alongside our new legislation, will provide some comfort to the people who have endured them.